madbeanpedals::forum

General => Open Discussion => Topic started by: alanp on November 30, 2013, 09:30:01 PM

There doesn't seem to be a general talk thread here (of the sort that doesn't really merit a whole thread to itself), other than the Klon thread which is really about foul language and liquor. So here we go.

One thing always turns me off travelling ANYWHERE not in New Zealand.

Tipping.

There is no tipping culture in NZ -- I have never, ever given a tip in my entire life. It goes against the grain -- what, you can't live on the legal minimum wage? Then your boss is a stingy f**ker who needs to be taken to the Ministry of Business since he's paying you less than law mandates. You're legally entitled to, in NZ, $13.75NZD per hour, or $550 for a 40 hour week. There's no need to hold your hand out for extra, unless you drink like a fish or give it away to Sky City casino.

That said, I do understand that minimum wage laws overseas are messed up, and thus tipping is wholly necessary from the viewpoint of getting enough money to live on. It still goes against the grain, somewhat -- it smacks of Victorian gentlemen arrogantly tossing a penny to the street urchins to carry their bags. I also understand that if you do not tip, then people overseas chase you down the street.

As a whole, it makes me highly disinclined to ever travel overseas and have to ever think about it.

How 'bout livable wages? In passing the other day it was mentioned on the radio that some Walmarts were having Thanksgiving food drives to help out their employees.

Minimum wage here was, and maybe still is set lower for employees classified as servers. There's also been issue here lately of employers demanding payment by the servers based on what the servers should be getting tipped, 'you must pay me for the priviledge of working here'.

Comparing NY wages Minimum is $7.25 = $8.91 NZ for a total of $356.40 NZ weekly.Servers in NY can be paid Minimum $5 because they get tips. I hate having to figure out who to tip: mailman, newspaper deliverer?It is going up in January but employers complain they will have to lay off workers or move out of state to find cheaper labor.How does NZ do it (provide a more livable wage)?Found this link it's sad http://livingwage.mit.edu/places/3602911000 (http://livingwage.mit.edu/places/3602911000)

I've been in some countries where the money people make working way more than 40 hours a week is barely enough to keep them and their families alive, so yeah, I tip. Plus I like travelling to much to let tipping keep me from it. It's just one of those things that comes along with it, so I deal with it. And sometimes, it doesn't even have to be money. In Cuba, people were often just as happy with a lighter, ballpoint pen or a strip of aspirin, because those were not readily available there (seriously!). I knew that, so I brought along a load.....

As juan said very little tipping in the uk , tipping in the US made me feel uncomfortable. I thought that the servers were sucking up and being very false just for their tips. And even when you got bad service you feel compelled to tip. All just a bit fake

Just finished "Heads on beds" wirtten by some guy who'd been in the hotel industry for a very long time. The US tipping culture, from what I can gather, constitutes a big part of the actual wage and makes a big difference to what you take home at the end of the week. Apparently slipping a $20 to the agent on the front desk can make your stay at the hotel much nicer...

Australia doesn't have much of a tipping culture per se, but if you feel like it, you can. If anyone gets tipped, it'll probably be bartenders or card gaming staff who generally divvy up the whole take up with each other at the end of the night. But no one expects it. If you were tip some supermarket monkey who pushed your trolly out to the car beacuse you were busy keeping triplet 4 year olds under control he'd probably look at you wierd and give it back.

Here in Canada, tipping is pretty typical in many situations. The worst practice I find is the 'mandatory' tipping that's sometimes enforced by some businesses. For example, if you go into some restaurants with a group of 10 or more, an automatic %15 tip is applied to the final bill. They say because the large group requires extra effort on the part of the server, but largely I think it's because big groups tip poorly, so to make up for it the business puts a policy in place.

Long story sort, I'm not a super huge fan of tipping, especially as it's become an expected or even mandatory practice here in North America.

When my family went for a vacation in Mexico, they encouraged us, quite often actually, NOT to tip, as tips were already worked into the prices we'd paid on everything. However, knowing how little the staff at the resort we worked at, and the people we encountered actually make, it was hard not to want to tip them.

I think the best policy any country should have is that tipping is an act of generosity based on a good encounter of service from another. I'm happy to tip anyone, but I hate being told you 'have' to. I think our country should change the policies for restaurants, and that restaurants should pay their workers better and we should simply pay our bill. But ask any server, and they'll tell you they'd rather get tips, because it's all 'tax free.' When you only get taxed on a minimum wage basis, you rarely end up with much tax at the end of the year, you keep most of your wage. If you get 'tips' to make up the large difference, and you don't claim them, you usually can walk away with all the cash, no taxes, and in the end you're a drain on our system. Servers love it. Customers who are aware, don't.

Travelling is all about sampling different cultures, new foods, beverages, music and arts, languages, toilets and tipping practices, never mind tipping the toilet attendant. Embrace the differences get down and dirty with the locals, when in Rome do as the Romans...

I simply can't imagine going on some pre-packaged insulated/isolated, bubble wrapped tour/cruise where you're lead around by hand from one overpriced trinket stand to another never, yech.

Alan don't let some minor little difference in culture keep you at home, get out there have a blast, what goes down in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Travelling is all about sampling different cultures, new foods, beverages, music and arts, languages, toilets and tipping practices, never mind tipping the toilet attendant. Embrace the differences get down and dirty with the locals, when in Rome do as the Romans...

I simply can't imagine going on some pre-packaged insulated/isolated, bubble wrapped tour/cruise where you're lead around by hand from one overpriced trinket stand to another never, yech.

Alan don't let some minor little difference in culture keep you at home, get out there have a blast, what goes down in Vegas stays in Vegas.

All joking aside, tipping in the US (at least for servers) is a huge part of their income and they actually get taxed on the tips as well. I used to be a waiter back in college and know this first hand. Minimum wage in the US is around $7.50/hr however if you are a server the employer can pay you as little as $2.50/hr (it varies by state) because they count the tips they receive as part of the minimum wage. As long as your tips + the crappy wage they pay you ends up over $7.50 it is considered OK. Therefore, it is customary to tip about 15-20% here in the US. All credit card tips are automatically taxed (because they are in the computer system) and most employers count at least 10% of a servers's sales as the minimum for being taxed. So if you sold $1000 worth of food in a night, they would assume you made at least $1000 (even though you probably grossed about $150 @ 15%) and tax you on it. You would also get a measly little check at the end of the week because they would calculate out the hours you worked, times the "server minimum wage" and then take the taxes out of it calculated on both your sales and what you claim. Lots of times my checks would be like $30-$50 for around 30+ hours of work due to the taxes.

Depending on where you serve food here, it could be quite a lot of money depending on the price of food you serve (say at a fancy seafood lobster restaurant) or it could be crap (say at a waffle house/breakfast shack). Also, servers here in the US often times have to split their earned tips between the bartenders who make alcoholic drinks for their tables, the busboys who clear the tables, and the runners who bring food out from the kitchen. Not to mention that they work every holiday, and usually Fri/Sat nights (where the money is). It's safe to say that I don't miss that profession any more..but it could be great money for a kid going to college.

Other tips here in the US are usually for taxi drivers, bellhops, tour guides, babysitters, dog walkers, valet parkers, and even sometimes those who give you food in a coffee/donut shop. These are optional and nowhere near the customary 15% for servers. Depends on the amount of the service but it could be an extra $1 to an extra $5.

Totally different than the EU or other places I travel to around the world!

Hmmm... well, like I said, I don't like the idea of it. I'm not their boss, supervisor, or employer. They're supposed to pay the wages. I'm out for a good night, not to figure out someone else's wages.

The only places I've ever seen "tip jars" are in American coffee shops, like Star Bucks, and even then there's never much in them.

Here in Greece, tipping is not even mandatory or imposed by law or anything. Although the wages are extremely low, something like 3 Euros per hour for a typical cafe server (convert that to dollars and you'll see), customers rarely leave a tip for the servers. In the end of it, it's their job and they get paid for it, regardless the number of customers on the table they serve. And they do leave a tip, they do it out of true generosity to the server.

To truly understand the financial state here in Greece, most of the times, even the customer can't leave a tip, because he can't afford it. Really. It sounds extravagant, but if you take to account that the minimum monthly wage is set to 586 Euros, you'll see what I mean.

Nevertheless, I do leave a tip, when I can. But it really (I mean, really) bothered me when I recently visited Wien, Austria, and went to a restaurant where the 10% tip was already included in the check! :o I now understand that this is a legal policy in the States and other countries, and although it would bother, I would indeed leave a tip, if it's imposed by law.

You think Greece economy is in the crapper? Over here the minimum wage is 392 Euro... ???Tipping happens but very rarely, mostly because people don't have any extra to give, no matter how great the service.

You think Greece economy is in the crapper? Over here the minimum wage is 392 Euro... ???Tipping happens but very rarely, mostly because people don't have any extra to give, no matter how great the service.

Oh god, I'm sorry man.. Where do you live? Then, we're both in the crapper. Sure thing, there are people who get paid under the minimum monthly wage, you know. We are pretty crappy here too.

Same thing here, unfortunately plenty of people "living" on money way below minimum wage. Even worse, it often includes pretty hard labor.I'm just a bit north of you, fresh in EU, right here in Croatia. Luckily I'm quite a bit better off but I still struggle to make ends meet every few months. I do make it a point to tip when a tip is well deserved but, as you rightly noticed, having restaurants include the tip on the check is just preposterous. I'm pretty sure none of that makes it's way to employee's pocket (mostly because it's taxable).

In Brazil, the tip is included in the bill. I think 10%. The good thing is that if you are not satisfied with the service, you can ask to remove it from the bill (it has to be very bad for that). I've travelled to lots of different countries and I like the Brazilian way, once you don't have to bother thinking how much you need to give as a tip. and when the waitress are cute, you can give them your telephone written on a napkin, you might get lucky! :P

You'd be ok in the UK. Very little tipping occurs here. It freaked me out when I went to the US and you had to work out how much to tip everyone.

Really John? I ate in a restaurant in London, first day i arrived, didn't tip (was not accustomed as tipping in Australia is optional) and the owner nearly punched me out. Yelled some derogatory comment at us as we left. Great first impression of London by the way lol ;-)

Needless to say after which i started to tip. And for the larger part of our trip, discovered you cant scratch your balls in Europe without SOMEBODY needing a coin.

Really John? I ate in a restaurant in London, first day i arrived, didn't tip (was not accustomed as tipping in Australia is optional) and the owner nearly punched me out. Yelled some derogatory comment at us as we left. Great first impression of London by the way lol ;-)

Needless to say after which i started to tip. And for the larger part of our trip, discovered you cant scratch your balls in Europe without SOMEBODY needing a coin.

That's because you were in London ;)

Us Northerners are a friendlier bunch :)

Tipping is semi-expected in the UK. If you have had good service and good food then around 10% is usual game. If you have had bad service and bad food then a tip is no way necessary.

I can't say tipping get's on my tits to be honest... but then it is usually just me and my wife I'm paying for (not a whole family), so the amounts involved aren't that large.

Never been to a country where tipping is expected because the minimum wage system is broken, but then again I've never been to the US. I can imagine I would be pissed though if I went to a restaurant and at the end I'd be forced to pay more then the price as on the menu. Hidden service charges do piss me off. If I have to pay 20% so the serving staff can have a living wage then include that in the prices as on the menu. Just like airlines should be honest and advertise their tickets including airport taxes and service charges as well.

And since we're soapboxing, how about airport security checks? A massive inconvenience and for what? A zero % apprehension rate in caught terrorists. None. Zilch. Nada. Njet. Non. Niks. No terrorist plot has ever been stopped by the guys and girls checking everything you wear and carry and who stop just short of fingering your colon. More lives could probably have been saved by hiring a psychologist to check the mental health of airline pilots, or by applying some common sense as to not fly airliners over a war zone.

What I don't understand is the amount expected in a tip. For a restaurant, for example, when I was younger a pretty standard amount was 15% of the final bill. Then I run into some friends who tell me that when they were servers 15% was a minimum, and 20% was more acceptable. But my sister-in-law was also a wait server and when I tried tipping her she scoffed and said "for a pizza place, don't tip more than a dollar a person. That's plenty."

So I really have no idea about what's expected even where I live. I think it varies by person and by restaurant and by city and by State here in the U.S.

You'd be ok in the UK. Very little tipping occurs here. It freaked me out when I went to the US and you had to work out how much to tip everyone.

Really John? I ate in a restaurant in London, first day i arrived, didn't tip (was not accustomed as tipping in Australia is optional) and the owner nearly punched me out. Yelled some derogatory comment at us as we left. Great first impression of London by the way lol ;-)

Needless to say after which i started to tip. And for the larger part of our trip, discovered you cant scratch your balls in Europe without SOMEBODY needing a coin.

London is a shithole (actually that's unfair, the centre is actually quite nice now). But like Paris, please don't confuse the capitol as being anything like the rest of the country... It's it's own separate entity.

What I don't understand is the amount expected in a tip. For a restaurant, for example, when I was younger a pretty standard amount was 15% of the final bill. Then I run into some friends who tell me that when they were servers 15% was a minimum, and 20% was more acceptable. But my sister-in-law was also a wait server and when I tried tipping her she scoffed and said "for a pizza place, don't tip more than a dollar a person. That's plenty."

So I really have no idea about what's expected even where I live. I think it varies by person and by restaurant and by city and by State here in the U.S.

20% in restaurants is typical, I get that. Where I'm confused is in the fast food places where you walk up to the counter, then stand there until your food is ready. Most of these places now have tip jars. Do I have to tip them also?

A conundrum that arises is that while you may be against a restaurant not paying a person a living wage or at least the minimum wage for any other job, tipping out of a feeling of obligation while it is nice for the person receiving the tip, is it not just propping up a poor business practice of expecting the customer to directly pay the employee rather than accounting for it in the cost of the service?

We have a minimum wage (by no means a living wage) but there's a number of levels; general, students, liquor servers who are at the low rung on the ladder, expected that their income will be supplimented by tips then a couple other levels.

I just caught part of a radio talk show and the guest was someone who just published some research on tipped workers. For many years the federal minimum wage for tipped workers was set at 50% of the minimum for other hourly workers. In the 90's the law was amended and the tipped minimum wage was set at $2.13 and disconnected from the standard hourly minimum. So while the federal minimum has been raised a few times since then, the minimum for tipped works is stuck at $2.13. (As stated in other posts, many states have higher minimums). A piece of trivia for US residents is that the person who negotiated that disconnect on behalf of the restaurant lobby was former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.

I'm more amazed that restaurants get away with it. Why is there no law enforcing a minimum wage in all sectors of the economy? Or is that considered 'socialist'?

We have minimum wage here and it's reasonably well enforced. But minimum wage here is $9/hr for food servers and the average house price is now over $1million - you do the math - I don't mind giving a 20-30% tip IF the service is very good...

All this talk about the US and confusion around tipping / amounts / staff getting underpaid and ripped off makes me happy that we don't have any of that BS in Australia. We know we're getting ripped off up front from the meal prices ;-)

"$40 for a steak! i thought we were one of the largest meat exporters in the world".

Travelling is all about sampling different cultures, new foods, beverages, music and arts, languages, toilets and tipping practices, never mind tipping the toilet attendant. Embrace the differences get down and dirty with the locals, when in Rome do as the Romans...

I simply can't imagine going on some pre-packaged insulated/isolated, bubble wrapped tour/cruise where you're lead around by hand from one overpriced trinket stand to another never, yech.

Alan don't let some minor little difference in culture keep you at home, get out there have a blast, what goes down in Vegas stays in Vegas.

dave

+1 on that

When i was a child, i was raised by mom only, she was working as a barmaid... once she was done paying all the bills with her small paycheck it's her tip that was allowing us to go at Mr.Submarine every Sunday and payed for other activities so my brother and I could do activities and have fun experience to share with our friends at school.... like any normal kid would...

A bit of kindness goes a longway sometime... i always tip well if the service is good... rule of thumb is 20% of my bill, if the service is poor, i'll let them know but give the minimum required so it's not taken from their tax return at the end of the year.

I'm more amazed that restaurants get away with it. Why is there no law enforcing a minimum wage in all sectors of the economy? Or is that considered 'socialist'?

We have minimum wage here and it's reasonably well enforced. But minimum wage here is $9/hr for food servers and the average house price is now over $1million - you do the math - I don't mind giving a 20-30% tip IF the service is very good...

I call myself an American not with a sense of exclusivity. It's just what we call ourselves. I definitely don't swell with pride at the sound of it. I was born in Canada anyway. My parents met and got married up there because they were going to school there. My dad tells me of a time when he called a Canadian an American, in the continental sense, and almost got his lights punched out. It seems there was at least one of them who would rather let us have the title.

Just because someone inexplicably named the entire land masses of the western hemisphere after a lesser known Italian explorer doesn't mean we as Canadians have any attachment to the term 'american'. The USAers can have it!

All of my meaningless crappy rants got deleted in the rollback. So lucky you lot, you all get fresh rants (smelling faintly, nonetheless, of the old ones.)

Perhaps it's because my family never OWNED a console (whether of the Nintendo, Sony, or Sega variety) and I never gained any skills with using ONLY my thumbs (I grew up playing games first on a C64, then a 486-DLC33, so I'm used to all TEN fingers, tyvm)...

... but I've never felt any attachment at all to the various Nintendo games.

It's getting to the point where I'm half expecting the next zombie-crowbar in a movie/game to be of old, seriously overworked Nintendo characters. (What's a zombie-crowbar? When you're playing a game or watching a movie that has no plot reason for zombies, or elegant thematic slide to zombies, but the developer/director crams them in anyway, because pop culture. Exhibit 1: Saints Row 3.)

I'd like to see another Impossible Mission game. Maybe they could trawl the retirement homes for old Epyx employees, those guys knew how to make a good game.

Or Apogee. What studios did they evaporate into? Secret Agent Man could do with a sequel, too.

Or that classic Amiga game, GODS. That was one of the best games, ever. And no, it was NOT some twitchy God Of War bloodfest, it was a fun platformer. (Handy tip -- always go up, or whatever way is the biggest pain in the ass -- that's where the level designer normally put the good stuff.)

My point being, I guess, with all this amazing history, can't Nintendo licence some of it (should be cheap, it's been out of circulation for decades) and stop flogging horses that are so dead, you'd think the corpse had been kept in a drum of acid.

I started a Gamer Blog that I promptly didn't bother ever updating. But I suspect I'm the other side of the fence ;)

http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/games.html

On that I'd say that the repetition in gaming crosses all platforms. How many derivatives of COD are there now? It's like the film industry, nostalgia sells (looks at the new Star Wars film, which is just the first three condensed and made shiny and new).

With that, you understand I will be buying the new Zelda game when it comes out ;)

My reflexes are long gone. Though my game was the Hard Driving arcade machine. I could stick 50p in that and just keep driving around and around.

My brother was more impressive, the local arcade had a clocked Defender (so it ran at nearly double speed), because he got sick of people sticking 10p in it and playing all day. Which still my brother could do.

But yeah, video games used to be rock hard. I like to think they've got easier to cope with the fact that we've all been getting older and kids are just wusses now.

But yeah, video games used to be rock hard. I like to think they've got easier to cope with the fact that we've all been getting older and kids are just wusses now.

There were more "games". Now a lot of it just seems to be QTE cut scenes to advance a "story".

I understand the economic reasons for it. Bigger, better, more = more units sold, but the days of hunting for a key in Doom while down to your last couple of shotgun shells and faced with a room full of Cacodaemons are gone.

I've probably put a couple of hundred hours into Fallout 4, but it isn't Fallout. It's barely even Fallout 3. I've finished every Fallout game thus far but F4 is basically a shooter. I pickpocketed and sneak stole a few times in F3, but there's rarely/no any call for it now. Actually, I stole owned items in F4 out of sight and hidden out of a box and had people in other rooms start on me. Work that out.

Every now and again though, something comes out that gets everything in balance, like Braid... Emotional content, gameplay, story..

There are times I feel like something of a freak in this modern world. I don't really use my cellphone (it took a few months of being yelled at, before I remember to actually check the damn thing when leaving work), I don't go out and party and jump and scream, and I haven't lived in a house with a TV for at least half a decade. (These days, I only watch TV when I'm at Mum and Dad's and feeling utterly bored.)

I can't stand advertising, either. Of any sort. If it's of the kind that seems to religiously believe, "if we bombard them with this shit often enough, they'll start to LIKE the smell!", then I will decide to boycott entirely the company or their product.

Advertising on the TV or radio really pisses me off. "F**K OFF AND LET ME WATCH THE BLOODY REST! I DO NOT BLOODY WANT TO BUY YOUR GARBAGE!"

Advertising on Youtube gets close-boxed, and re-opened in my other browser that has an ad-blocker.

Advertising on the web gets adblocked entirely.

My tolerance for advertising is swiftly approaching zero these days. And no, I don't really care if they try to make it funny.

You're freak Alan but that's ok. I've never owned a cell phone or car for that matter. Never seen an episode of The Simpsons, Seinfield or pretty much anything else that was produced as a tv fictional story in the last 25-30 years.

We used to have a tv, i'd walk past the room it was in and if something someone was watching caught my eye i'd stop, stand and watch 'til a commercial came on then move on to far more interesting matters. Rare was a show that could get me to stick around for the commercial break to end.

You're freak Alan but that's ok. I've never owned a cell phone or car for that matter. Never seen an episode of The Simpsons, Seinfield or pretty much anything else that was produced as a tv fictional story in the last 25-30 years.

We used to have a tv, i'd walk past the room it was in and if something someone was watching caught my eye i'd stop, stand and watch 'til a commercial came on then move on to far more interesting matters. Rare was a show that could get me to stick around for the commercial break to end.

I do own a cell phone, but don't use it (it's in the car, switched off. Has been for years). I don't answer the house phone because it's been spammed to the point of 1 in 10 calls actually being someone who I'd want to talk to. Add to this that I'm a on the extreme end of introversion, the sound of a phone ringing I find annoying as it's almost always when I'm doing something else and I don't want to talk to someone right now.

I have a TV, but I don't watch TV on it. If they sold monitors in that size I'd happily swap it out. I've tried to watch the new X-Files on it in the last couple of weeks and it's only served to remind me why I don't. 10 mins in, ooh getting interesting... BAM adverts taking you right out of the programme... Rinse and repeat in 15 min blocks. I can't stand TV. I love film and good TV shows, but broadcast TV is bullshit and I can't deal with it.

I also cannot stand news in any medium. 24hr stations killed it on TV. They have to fill the time up and it's just become tabloid bullshit journalism. Newspapers are worse as they seem to only exist now to spread vileness like xenophobia, fear, scaremongering, and just plain sensationalist bullshit and lies. Then you have the downright creepy hypocrisy of them asking for peadophiles to be burned on one page, followed by some bikini pics of some very young thing on the next saying how 'grown up' she is... I find our newspapers abhorrent in every way.

Generally I think it's media on the whole. The world is a bit of a shithole to be fair, which we're responsible for. Greed and callousness is rampant. I know it, but I don't need it ramming down my throat all the fucking time. Because there's also good out there, which gets drowned in all this negativity, spite, hate and fear that you get bombarded with in the media.

Yes, I still hold a special place of hatred in my heart for "Boring FM" type stations. Especially while the girls at work still love them.

One has a name of "Real World Radio" (I shit you not), voiced in an overly dramatic USAian voice (although somewhat higher pitched than the standard "This summer, terror has a new name!" movie Serious Man Voice.)

Because the Real World always has a soundtrack written by some pencilneck-psychologist no one outside the labels has heard of, performed by someone insulated from typical human biomass by several layers of servants and couriers, and recorded in some Los Angeles studio. The Real New Zealand World has a dramatic voiceover with a foreign accent. The Real World always has utterly banal, boring themes of either relationships, or I'm-So-Great!

Calling it Real World Radio is like saying that Pamela Anderson's chest in Baywatch is totes real.

Oh, and hiphop self-aggrandizing songs get up my nose, as well. I can't help but suspect that the same swaggering idiots singing "Ain't nobody gonna fuck with us!" would sooner eat broken glass than sing the exact same line outside the local Mongrel Mob or Black Power pad.

This may be something to do with the national tendency towards humility. A thread on a NZ guitar forum recently asked, "If you were a guitar, what would you be?"

The answers tended to be along the lines of "A superstrat, boring and ugly to look at, but it makes some nice sounds," and, "A new Gibson LP -- looks like some classic figures earlier in the bloodline, but doesn't sound anywhere as good, and nowhere near as desirable."

Someone commented that if they'd asked that on TGP or similar, responses would be more like, "I'm a '59 Sunburst! I look like God, and sound like Jehovah!"

How common is central heating? An article I'm reading reckons that it's one of the big shocks that happens to foreigners who move to New Zealand.

Over here, central heating is VERY uncommon. You're more likely to get a small heater in the corner of the room you're in, and wood fires are very common. (I don't use mine, since I'm usually at the opposite end of the house to the lounge, and it makes no sense to me to waste money on burning wood then.) I've got a fan ventilation setup, but all it is is basically a fan with some air filters in it. It just moves it around, it doesn't make the air hotter or colder.

People certainly don't bother heating hallways, as the article suggests non-kiwi's do. Bathrooms with heat lamps in them get heated, sure, but that's it -- having a heater plugged in there sounds like a recipe for disaster.

(Another article I read, years ago, reckoned that when the first European settlers arrived, they learnt that while your toes still get damn frosty here, sleeping without the fire going in winter won't kill you, and therefore promptly gave up on the whole insulation nonsense. Older houses here are notoriously freezing in winter.)

99% of houses have it I'd say here (UK). Mainly due to the fact that the weather is miserable and cold most of the time. For the two weeks of the year the weather is warm enough that the overly insulated houses become furnaces, we generally put up with it (but moan... much like we moan when it's cold, or wet), because it never lasts. No one has A/C really outside businesses. So sales of fans from the local DIY stores peaks for that two weeks, then they get chucked in the loft for the rest of the year.

Given all the above, more convertibles are sold in the UK than anywhere else in Europe... We have our eccentricities...

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

if the climate gets hotter, "the flood" from melting icecaps will cool you guys first ;)

same in Austria with more warm weather. Especially in Vienna, we had a few weeks 30+ °C the last years, which is nice if you are in a basement lab with a glass front without AC and 60 students working with solvents. Hurra for ether!

When you can go months in the winter where you get a day here and there where it doesn't go up above freezing, central heating is the norm. And in the summer plus 30 C, with humidity plus 40 C, central air is very prevalent if not, window units. We use a few fans, i love the heat. One night a few summers ago i had my infra red thermometer in the bedroom for some reason, the walls and bed were reading 34 C, woke up in the morning buried under the quilt that keeps me warm in the winter.

In Michigan we have an excellent mix of all weather and seasons. I've never been in a home without central heat in this state. Other warmer states like Florida Arizona could be possible but not this far north. I have a fireplace and I do burn in it sometimes in the winter as I enjoy it a lot. But it is more work than pushing the "heat on" button. Central AC is pretty common these days. When I was a kid in the 80's it was much less common. Several family members had no AC.

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

I picked up one at a thrift store a few weeks ago to try to do the memory upgrade. I picked up the memory here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

Just got it a couple days ago.. I'm not afraid of soldering it but more afraid of the desoldering process. I have been watching a bunch of Youtube vids on it.

I have a couple others that are workhorses. One is modded with a SmartXX and the other (Halo green edition) is softmoded. I would recommend picking one up and tossing a 2TB HDD in it and get to playing. I think I may still have the notes from when I softmoded mine and put the 2TB HDD in if you want them.

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

if the climate gets hotter, "the flood" from melting icecaps will cool you guys first ;)

Perhaps. I've once calculated that with a maximum sealevel rise Nijmegen would become a sea side city. So on the plus side I'd get more cool sea breeze and a nice view.

Then again, if there's one thing the Dutch are good at it its designing flood defenses. They say that the Great Wall of China was the only man made structure you could see from space. That turned out to be wrong. There is of course a real man made structure you can see from space. It's called the Netherlands.

Quote

same in Austria with more warm weather. Especially in Vienna, we had a few weeks 30+ °C the last years, which is nice if you are in a basement lab with a glass front without AC and 60 students working with solvents. Hurra for ether!

Our old offices in the university library on the first floor were constantly being baked by the sun 24/7, had no air conditioning and the automatic sun screens had a bad habit of always going up when the sun was shining the most. And it was still a better place to be then my own home.

... and it's Yet Another Fking Mario Game. You know, because we don't have well ENOUGH of the fking things yet. Whatsherface gets kidnapped, the short fat one collects crack stars, repeated ad nauseum until Nintendo have put out another five games without so much as a penny coming back to them.

Yes, I know it's a retro review. Doesn't make my point less valid. And continuity? It's a PLATFORMER.

Like I said, I never owned a console, whether of the Sega, Nintendo, or Sony variety. I've never played Mario (don't think there was a C64 version... I had hundreds of games on that thing.) Maybe that's why several dozen reviews piddling away time on Yet Another Mario Game pisses me off, when he could be reviewing something that wasn't rubber stamped out.

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

I picked up one at a thrift store a few weeks ago to try to do the memory upgrade. I picked up the memory here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

Just got it a couple days ago.. I'm not afraid of soldering it but more afraid of the desoldering process. I have been watching a bunch of Youtube vids on it.

I have a couple others that are workhorses. One is modded with a SmartXX and the other (Halo green edition) is softmoded. I would recommend picking one up and tossing a 2TB HDD in it and get to playing. I think I may still have the notes from when I softmoded mine and put the 2TB HDD in if you want them.

Cody

Cody, is there any chance you'll reuse the old chip that you're desoldering? If not, you can carefully cut each leg off and then it's easy to take them off one at a time (and then clean up the pads with a solder wick).

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

I picked up one at a thrift store a few weeks ago to try to do the memory upgrade. I picked up the memory here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

Just got it a couple days ago.. I'm not afraid of soldering it but more afraid of the desoldering process. I have been watching a bunch of Youtube vids on it.

I have a couple others that are workhorses. One is modded with a SmartXX and the other (Halo green edition) is softmoded. I would recommend picking one up and tossing a 2TB HDD in it and get to playing. I think I may still have the notes from when I softmoded mine and put the 2TB HDD in if you want them.

Cody

Cody, is there any chance you'll reuse the old chip that you're desoldering? If not, you can carefully cut each leg off and then it's easy to take them off one at a time (and then clean up the pads with a solder wick).

Or have you solved this already?

Funny you bring this up, I was wrong about needing to desolder anything. The tutorial I was reading was from people taking the ram chips out of non-working Xboxs and adding them to another Xbox. The original xbox mother board has 2 empty spots for more memory seen here:

I ordered new memory and got it but have yet put the time aside to solder it in. Soon I hope.

But, the tip you gave would have worked out nicely if I was not reusing the part for sure. I will have to try that with the Sega Dreamcast BIOS update if I choose not to piggyback it to the existing BIOS.

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

I picked up one at a thrift store a few weeks ago to try to do the memory upgrade. I picked up the memory here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

Just got it a couple days ago.. I'm not afraid of soldering it but more afraid of the desoldering process. I have been watching a bunch of Youtube vids on it.

I have a couple others that are workhorses. One is modded with a SmartXX and the other (Halo green edition) is softmoded. I would recommend picking one up and tossing a 2TB HDD in it and get to playing. I think I may still have the notes from when I softmoded mine and put the 2TB HDD in if you want them.

Cody

Cody, is there any chance you'll reuse the old chip that you're desoldering? If not, you can carefully cut each leg off and then it's easy to take them off one at a time (and then clean up the pads with a solder wick).

Or have you solved this already?

Funny you bring this up, I was wrong about needing to desolder anything. The tutorial I was reading was from people taking the ram chips out of non-working Xboxs and adding them to another Xbox. The original xbox mother board has 2 empty spots for more memory seen here:

I ordered new memory and got it but have yet put the time aside to solder it in. Soon I hope.

But, the tip you gave would have worked out nicely if I was not reusing the part for sure. I will have to try that with the Sega Dreamcast BIOS update if I choose not to piggyback it to the existing BIOS.

Rumor has it that Patton tried to convince Eisenhower to let his 3rd Army advance into Czechoslovakia and that one of the arguments he used was that unlike the German frauleins, which were zum strengsten forboten for his men, the Czech women could be 'fraternized' with.

I work in the Small Goods department at work -- hearts, lung, liver, kidney, casings, everything inside the animal that isn't meat (or commonly viewed as such, like the diaphragm or skirt.) We even save the bungs sometimes, they get made into condoms.

One of the rooms is the Green Tripe room, where the sheep stomachs are cut open, cleaned, washed, and then sent to the clean side for packing. Green side is separate, separate entrance into the building, separate donko and toilet -- it's a licensing requirement.

The funny bit is where, for some reason, drug testing had to be done for the four or five men working on Green side. I forget the initial reason why, but... every one tested positive for having smoked dope in the last week!

Company policy is that it's an immediately sackable offense.

Reality at the time was that they didn't have any other people trained in the job, couldn't spare people to train up in it, and tripe makes more money than the main smallgoods room (which is separate from bungs and casings) -- so despite policy, all of them were kept on in their job :o

Slightly less dodgy, and more funny... one of the green side boys went to scratch his arse while working... and forgot he had a knife in his hands.

Don't start a snowball fight with Norwegian kids, even if you are a US Marine.

Thanks Alan! This is really well written and it is indeed hilarious.

definetely the best part:

Quote

There was a shrill cry in unintelligible gibberish and the doors to the school burst open. School children flooded out like a never-ending flood of something that never ends. Screeching, smiling, sprinting - how the hell were they sprinting?? - little bastards were slinging snowballs faster than the laws of physics should allow. It was like that movie Elf. If you can imagine riding in a fast car in a snowstorm and sticking your head out the window. Now imagine the snowflakes that are hitting your face are the size of snowballs. We couldn't see a damn thing. We couldn't run. We could barely breathe. Holy hell....

It's weird though how children are not afraid to attack armed soldiers. throwing snowballs is one thing, but really bringing one down could be dangerous with him carrying a weapon.

I suspect youth, enthusiasm, and not even thinking of it on the kids part, added to body language on the soldiers' part that they know that if they even POINT the rifles anywhere near the kids, they'll be peeling potatoes from here 'till doomsday.

While we're at it, why don't we remake Passion of the Christ, but with a female Jesus? Or Braveheart, with Wilhemina Wallace?

And you just KNOW that if you suggest a gender-bent Sound of Music, say, with a male child minder, and a female Von Trapp matriarch, or Kill Billie, with The Groom, you'd be hearing howls of outrage from the moon.

This is the same basic problem I have with a female Thor in the Marvel comics.

Come up with your own bloody mass-media characters, feminists! Wonder Woman was a good start, and Black Widow, keep on creating strong female characters, and not stealing existing male ones and cutting their wedding tackle off.

I actually would see how that could work. Bond's job description and time setting would allow a woman to fill in. It would need a male moneypenny though ;)

I agree about female Thor though. That is a nordic god, that is a male character. you can't just switch gender and even keep his name. Just doesn't fit. Would make more sense to make a female iron man. a woman could surely fit the suit... stuff like that would feel weird, but would work. Thor, however, was the worst choice of character to change genders.

There's a theory that the name "James Bond" is a codeword or assumed identity for the agent at the time, not his actual name. As a result, there have been many Bonds... Wouldn't matter too much if it was a chick following that logic.

I see no reason that Bond can't be a woman. He's Inspector Gadget for the most part, and if you swap the genders of the bimbos the character gets to remain heterosexual if that bothers people. You could even leave the character male and have it played by a female, because it's frigging fiction. Men played women on stage for hundreds or even thousands of years and no one gave a crap about it. Turn that around and people have a problem for some reason.

Thor is a personification of an idea (or several ideas, including lightning, fertility [!], and oak trees). Arguing that "Thor" should exclusively be male instead of being female literally makes no sense. It's not an animal born with a particular set of dangly bits to which biological sex can be attributed, nor does it require his dangly bits to interact with another set to produce children. He's a "he" by convention and tradition and nothing more.

The Marvel comics version has even LESS of an argument for strict maleness than the myths, because the person who was "Thor" was just a particular person who was able to wield a hammer. There's nothing in the job description of picking up the hammer that says, "Oh and you also have to be a dude."

They're fictional characters. It says more about you than the rest of the world that it even occurs to you to climb up on a soapbox and be pissed off about it.

I see no reason that Bond can't be a woman. He's Inspector Gadget for the most part, and if you swap the genders of the bimbos the character gets to remain heterosexual if that bothers people. You could even leave the character male and have it played by a female, because it's frigging fiction. Men played women on stage for hundreds or even thousands of years and no one gave a crap about it. Turn that around and people have a problem for some reason.

Thor is a personification of an idea (or several ideas, including lightning, fertility [!], and oak trees). Arguing that "Thor" should exclusively be male instead of being female literally makes no sense. It's not an animal born with a particular set of dangly bits to which biological sex can be attributed, nor does it require his dangly bits to interact with another set to produce children. He's a "he" by convention and tradition and nothing more.

The Marvel comics version has even LESS of an argument for strict maleness than the myths, because the person who was "Thor" was just a particular person who was able to wield a hammer. There's nothing in the job description of picking up the hammer that says, "Oh and you also have to be a dude."

They're fictional characters. It says more about you than the rest of the world that it even occurs to you to climb up on a soapbox and be pissed off about it.

Well... there is the traditional ideal that Thor was the SON of Odin. So there is that...

The "role" could be played by a female however, that would entail re-writing the entire myth.

I think the whole Bond franchise needs an update, what that update is I don't know. I agree with Jon that there's no reason Bond can't be a woman. Alias was fairly successful in that genre with Jennifer Garner. The struggle would be that the James Bond character has traditionally been a more mature (read not in their 20s or 30s) character, and I don't know how that would directly translate into a female role (I would suspect that casting would want a younger type character if they went to a female Bond).

The easiest way to open it up would be to acknowledge that James Bond is a persona and not a person in the storyline. Make the new Bond the niece of Connery or something like that (not a direct familial relation, and have him only in a short spot at the beginning), seems like a way the handoff could be done. And it wouldn't prevent a future Bond from being cast back in the more traditional role if they had to.

Well... there is the traditional ideal that Thor was the SON of Odin. So there is that...

The "role" could be played by a female however, that would entail re-writing the entire myth.

Yes, but calling a god the son of another god doesn't count. It's just words attached to abstract ideas. Which of Thor's mythological actions require it to be male?

Let's look at a few:

1. Drinking the ocean. Well, my wife can drink me under the table, so I'm pretty sure a frank and beans doesn't help there.2. Banged a giant on the side while married to the earth. Well, the earth doesn't have a gender as far as I know ... and giants come in both genders.3. Battles the world serpent. I'm pretty sure that your average guy can't do this either, but I don't recall Thor using his penis to smite Jörmungandr in the Edda, so I think we can safely imagine this battle not requiring gender.4. Makes thunder. Clearly this is either a belch or a fart. You're married, right? So you know that women do both of those things.

I'm with alanp. There is nothing wrong with creating a strong female movie character in her own right and franchise. In fact I welcome it. There is everything wrong with taking an established male character and making it female. It takes away from one to give to another. Is that feminism? Is that equality? Are women that creatively impoverished that they can't conceive their own counterpart to James Bond?

Yes, but calling a god the son of another god doesn't count. It's just words attached to abstract ideas.

I'm not saying that a role of Thor couldn't be played by a female.

What I AM saying is that you should go out on the street and ask 100 random people "Thor is the son of Odin... what sex is Thor?" Hence the need to change a lot of the mytho surrounding Thor. Its not impossible but it would be a challenge.

I personally wouldn't mind a Bond re-write with a female lead. I think it would be refreshing. The only problem would be getting the Flemming/Saltzman/Broccoli camp to sign off on it.

I'm with alanp. There is nothing wrong with creating a strong female movie character in her own right and franchise. In fact I welcome it. There is everything wrong with taking an established male character and making it female. It takes away from one to give to another. Is that feminism? Is that equality? Are women that creatively impoverished that they can't conceive their own counterpart to James Bond?

There's a song that comes on the radio from time to time, and I want to know the artist and track name.

It's got a feel somewhere between Link Wray's Rumble, and fifties rock. The singer doesn't stop for long, at all, and has a somewhat nasal voice that reminds me of a telecaster or good strat. The end of the song repeats "Get it on!" The production value is pretty high, too. (No, it isn't T Rex.)

Alan i've the Shazam app on my ipod that is pretty amazing. It listens to a fragment of a song and usually in seconds identify's the song, artist and album. Or if there's no internet connection available it saves it's listen and identify's the song once an internet connection is established. I've only stumped it once and on another song i played it, the count for identifying was at one.

Something weird just occurred to me. I tend to wear a lot of black, most days. I'm not goth, or emo, or anything like that. Black is practical, goes with everything, and doesn't stain as easily as, say, white.

Most people in NZ have a tendency to wear black quite a bit. I've heard one opinion that New Zealanders tend to look like a nation full of grieving Greek widows. This can partially be attributed to the legendary All Blacks, and I've also heard it goes back to New Zealand's egalitarian roots.

If you've met Kiwis in the past (or, even better, visited the Land of the Long White Cloud), does this bear out with what you've seen?

My interactions with Kiwis both here in Australia and NZ is that Black is their national colour. I think it comes from the All Blacks - every Kiwi sporting team wants black regardless of if they're representing the country in international competition or not.

Flicking through reviews on youtube (I need a good laugh), and apparently there's a new Zelda. Again.

/me checks Wiki...

Now there are twenty games in the Zelda main series, if my count of the Wiki section box at the bottom is right.

We don't give Friday the Thirteenth part eight and Saw IX: Return of the Cluedo a freebie on this, it winds up as direct-to-video dreck, so why does Nintendo get a freebie on never, ever coming up with new franchises?

I'm pretty sure this annoys me because one, I didn't grow up with a Nintendo game machine and two, I've never actually SEEN one in the flesh. Ever. (Except for maybe one on a shelf in a pawn shop...) I've seen plenty of Sega systems running Sonic and Alex the Kidd, but never Nintendo.

Black just works. If, like me, you're unable to comprehend fashion and why it exists, but are also into rock/metal/goth/industrial music, black pretty much chooses you. Or at least darker hues at the very least. As I've got older my wardrobe has become a little lighter in places, I've strayed into dark blues on occasion for example. But as I don't have a particularly sunny outlook generally, it'd be wrong of me to dress in a jolly manner. Plus I'm a massive introvert so I wouldn't want to look welcoming to people to make small talk with or indulge in touchy-feelyness. I can do without all that.

I'm pretty sure this annoys me because one, I didn't grow up with a Nintendo game machine and two, I've never actually SEEN one in the flesh. Ever. (Except for maybe one on a shelf in a pawn shop...) I've seen plenty of Sega systems running Sonic and Alex the Kidd, but never Nintendo.

I'm the exact opposite. I never saw a Sega system of any kind in the wild until I was a senior in high school. My buddy bought a used Genesis on the cheap just to see what the big whoop was. It was okay.

Everything in my world was Nintendo. It was literally the only game in town. NES, Gameboy, and Super Nintendo ruled the world. Although I did have this one spoiled-brat friend that always had some exotic system (3DO, TurboGrafix 16, etc) in addition to his Nintendo.

my neighbor had a N64 with Zelda: Ocarina of Time and it was a blast just watching him play. It was one of, if not the first impressive 3D game and also it's massively long. I agree that the story pretty much never changed (I'm only up to date till the Wii version): Ganondorf wants evil, captures Zelda, Link goes to the Kokiri in the forest, the Gorons in the mountains and the Zora at the sea, later Gerudos in the desert. Of course getting the obligatory item to solve the puzzles on the way, one per temple.

Nevertheless, I found all the zelda games I played highly entertaining and addicting, even if the graphics on the Nintendos suck compared to other current game systems.

I've been there! It's well worth a visit if you're in the area. It's longer to walk through than the article implies -- there's the basement with old firetrucks and the like, and an overhead gallery with antique motorbikes.

The gangster car has one of the windows rolled halfway down, with a box of matches sitting on the top of the window, to illustrate how )))))thick((((( the bulletproof glass is. The front windscreen is split, and hinged at the top, so gangsters could push their guns out at the bottom and shoot straight ahead without sticking their hands or heads out the side :D

I have a kinda crappy Pioneer that slowly started to get more and more hum going on. Eventually I cracked the hood, thinking it was a longshot to fix it. After poking around a bit, I noticed that three or four electrolytics had somehow come loose from their joints. I replaced them and also touched up a few other suspicious looking joints, and now it works again and sounds just as mediocre as the day I bought it! ;D

I wound up buying a new Pioneer. If you pay cash, shops will usually do a deal.

The digital control side has been a bag of dicks for years -- try to change the input, it flicks through half of them before settling on one you didn't want. And the volume occasionally cut out, needing a joggle of the knob. (My sister was very happy to hear there would be no more random volume spikes to get the Kenwood going again.)

I'm watching another anime where a kendo club member is involved (Katekyo Hitman Reborn.)

If ARMA or something had something similar in Western schooling, where I could learn the longsword (fencing and the like don't count, for one, they're too high-class hoity-toity, and for the other, they're a sport, with no pretensions of actual combat applicability) I would have been all over PE, rather than being the Dead Last.

I'm watching another anime where a kendo club member is involved (Katekyo Hitman Reborn.)

If ARMA or something had something similar in Western schooling, where I could learn the longsword (fencing and the like don't count, for one, they're too high-class hoity-toity, and for the other, they're a sport, with no pretensions of actual combat applicability) I would have been all over PE, rather than being the Dead Last.

I taught intro bio last spring, and one of my fellow TA's who taught the period after mine was an avid long sword fighter. It always made staff meetings fun as we were waiting for our coordinator to wake up and show up, he'd grab a pair of meter sticks and start teaching us the differences between german and english stances, what swords were used for which fighting styles, etc.

Strange, but cool, fellow. No idea where he learned (honestly never got around to asking) but it seems its still alive and well in some capacity.

Because it fits in with the in-universe lore. It's entirely possible for a regeneration of Doctor Who to be female. It isn't a case of the Hand of God descending, and Deus Ex Machina declaring, "Thou Art Now Female!"

And, for something completely different, I saw something hilarious. Utterly hilarious. An old Jimquisition video, where he declared the Wii U winner of the "Next Gen" war.

It wasn't hilarious because he said the Wii U won.

It was because he said the Wii U had new and exciting games.

All the while, showing footage of...

Yet another fucking Zelda.

Yet another fucking Mario.

Yet another fucking Donkey Kong.

I don't care if Mario puts on a furry fetish suit. Come up with a new character, maybe even a real cat, (you could buy the licence for Sylvester!) not just lipstick on a pig, Nintendo!

I hate the female Doctor. It totally changes the dynamics of the show in ways not seen since the 2nd Doctor set the definitive mold of what the show would become. It feels utterly like a kneefall to the PC crowd, who doesn't watch it anyway, and I feared as such the moment they asspulled a female Master. A female James Bond on the other hand, I wouldn't mind, but that's probably more because the franchise does absolutely nothing to me. At least I like Doctor Who. A new James Bond movie is like a whole new reason not to care. It's Bond with gadgets and hot chicks, going from stunt scene to stunt scene. It's like a Michael Bay movie, only less aweful, and but without the transformers that at least make them somewhat cool.

if they kept everything about Bond the same, just made it a female that was bedding the Bond girls and tearing around the world's vacation spots in well made British sports cars that would be fine ... not quite ready for the ridiculous male version of Pussy Galore or Honey Ryder

I like the idea of a female doctor who. The show has been around since the early sixties why not shake it up a bit. Missy was the best master since Delgado. A female Doctor could be a breath of fresh air.

Don't see the point with Bond though. I feel like it could be good, but I don't know how it could remain true to the source material. I think Alan nailed it, it doesn't fit with the lore of the series.

A radio station here has been pimping Black Friday for all it's worth. I strongly get the impression that the shops here, as with Halloween, would dearly love for New Zealand to take this holiday and love it.

There's just one problem.

The average New Zealander regards the USA-ian Thanksgiving with about as much thought as the Londoner of the 1800's regarded Ramadan. What for the love of Bacon is that? Oh well, who gives a shit...

And, therefore... Black friday?!?! Oh, I heard there are some specials this weekend...

Here, in the US, "Black Friday" is my reminder to stay away from all stores. Crazy people (mostly, the same breed of people who believe everything they hear in political ads) everywhere make it hard to even go on a beer run.

Yeah, I pretty much avoid any store that's having a black friday sale. I buy enough stuff as it is.Don't need another reason to buy stuff. The commercialization of xmas here in the U.S. is pretty awful, IMO.

Yeah, I pretty much avoid any store that's having a black friday sale. I buy enough stuff as it is.Don't need another reason to buy stuff. The commercialization of xmas here in the U.S. is pretty awful, IMO.

I agree, although I do have a Black Friday sale going on on my site, more an excuse to do special edition stuff than anything else :D

Everyone knows the real shopping holiday worth celebrating is the week after Christmas anyway, when everyone's returning all their junk and the stores have to liquidate all the things they stocked up on.

Everyone knows the real shopping holiday worth celebrating is the week after Christmas anyway, when everyone's returning all their junk and the stores have to liquidate all the things they stocked up on.

In my family, I tend to be the "on time" one. If I give a time, I do my damndest to turn up at that time. I'll usually worry about it for a few hours before hand, and give myself at least a quarter hour of slack time to allow for unforeseen events.

My brother and sister are a bit less worried about this. It's nice if they turn up on time, but whether this happens is generally linked to how much of an earbashing they're likely to get from Mum about it.

Mum and Dad... if they are organising the event, then Mum will have spent the last couple days beforehand setting up. (Mum LOVES entertaining people. Dad has made some wooden cases to hold glasses, etc, in storage for these.) If they're invited, and it isn't time sensitive (ie, a movie theatre who is NOT going to wait for them), they're probably going to be a little bit late.

I find that being on time depends on distance. If I have to go far I always tend to arrive ahead of time, as I factor in uncertainties and other possibilities. If I have to be somewhere close I often arrive to late because familiarity breeds contempt. Oh, I can do this, no problem, it's close, damn is it that late already?

16 GB is really becoming the minimum these days. Which is why I'm still amazed that most shops still sell PC's and laptops with 4 GB. They say you don't really need much if you just use it for Word and internet browsing. They haven't met me I guess. But I always keep waaaaaaay to many tab windows open.

Just built a new PC for home recording, i7-7700k, 32GB DDR4. Still a work in progress. Also a little hampered by the fact that my old external HDD just died on me. With on it the whole Adobe suite that an old friend of mine had 'gifted' to me. It would appear that the universe not only has a perverse sense of humor, but is also into copy rights.

Maybe I'm just a sad sack, but I can't help but think that any slogan being worn automatically gets discounted by people when the person who is wearing it... their face just looks emotionally DEAD. Of all the models photographed in the article, the only one that looked even remotely 'huh'-ish was the "Don't Know, Don't Care" one, since at least then the person's face matched the slogan.

The activists pictured had expression on their faces, but the models just looked dead inside.

Maybe I'm just a sad sack, but I can't help but think that any slogan being worn automatically gets discounted by people when the person who is wearing it... their face just looks emotionally DEAD. Of all the models photographed in the article, the only one that looked even remotely 'huh'-ish was the "Don't Know, Don't Care" one, since at least then the person's face matched the slogan.

The activists pictured had expression on their faces, but the models just looked dead inside.

I have worn only 1 slogan shirt in the past 2 decades, and yeah, it was worn with pretty much a "dead inside" look to me:

(https://i.imgur.com/LEfjOtH.jpg)

I've stopped wearing it as 2017 ended up so much worse. But it fit the times.

Firstly, the two are, so far, accused. That's it. I know it's a minor technicality that only their mother would care about, but they haven't been convicted, or pleaded guilty. As far as I know, "innocent until proven guilty" is still a thing.

Secondly, I watch movies and TV (these days, very rarely for TV) for entertainment and to enjoy a well told story. Not to be moralized at. Actors are hired because they look like what the director thinks the fictional character does, and because they can deliver lines in a manner consistent with the fictional character. Not because of their views on ethics, morality, and organic coffee. That way lies hiring practices for the likes of the USSR, where someone gets the job of engineer because he holds the right political views, not because he knows whether to hold a screwdriver in his hand or his anus.

Sorry for the ranty, soapbox venting nature of this post. But if an actor DOES get CONVICTED, like say Gary Glitter, who was convicted of having sex with an under 13 girl, THEN strip them of their titles, honours, and awards.

I enjoyed Gary Oldman's role in "Darkest Hour" and I don't know what he may or may not have done. But, due process is the concept that the government has to follow the law and not deprive you of your rights, property, life, etc, arbitrarily. This was a great concern for the (US) Founders since they were dealing with a king and military rule. The Oscars are a different story since getting an Oscar, or even working in the film industry, is a privilege, not a right, and the Academy is not the government. The Academy could disinvite people from its party if it wants. It should be fair, and (for example) if it discriminated against people of any particular type, as it has in the past, that would be heinous. But it could deny a person suspected of bad behavior an invitation, without breaking due process, similar to the way you can tell your musician friend not to bring his no-good buddy around any more.

There's being suspected of doing something, due to due legal process, like a police investigation, and being suspected of something, because somebody said something on social media, or the media in general. Because after all, it's not like people have never lied before when there is something to be gained, right? When there is money, possessions, privilege, attention or love to be gained people always tell the truth, right?

Just because the cause seems just doesn't mean that we should resort to trial by media. Or in this case not even a trial, more lynchmob by media. We are talking after all of people's lives, career and livelihood here. Also remember that any revolution usually ends with the revolutionaries themselves being led to the guillotine.

At what point should someones past endeavours be revoked following a subsequent discovery of - lets call it - illegality on there part? And does the nature of said "illegality" determine the scale of revocation that should occur?

Example, its widely accepted that Roman Polansky is/was a paedophile, but I still think Rosemarys Baby is a classic and I would happily view the film. Harvey Weinstein probably did some bad stuff. However, it doesnt make me want to burn my copies of the films his production company backed eg Pulp Fiction.

I kind see this in a different way to say, athletes who cheated and should be retrospectively removed of their medals or awards.

Lets say for instance Gary Oldman gets convicted of indecent assault towards a minor, or something else, whatever, does that mean his performance in Darkest Hour was any less worthy of rememberence and celebration?

Really interesting topic (at least I think so) that I could bang on about for a long while.

It was raised recently with me, as there was some record producer or musician or someone (cant remember) who an acquaintance of mine said they were burning all the vinyl that said person was involved with. I consider that silly, because the music isnt any less good. I imagine if by listening to it (or say, viewing a film produced by Weinstein) your mind starts to wander onto their indiscretions in a way that distracts you to the point of disgust, you risk associating all those bad things with the product you are meant to be enjoying, and therefore can no longer enjoy it.

Wierdly, Ive given examples where I wouldnt denounce all past outputs (eg Weinstein films) whereas I dont think I can listen to Lost Prophets anymore (despite one of their records being a bona fide riot) because when I do I am reminded of the absolutely abhorrent crimes of the (ex-) lead singer Ian Watkins.

I suppose, after all these words Ive mind-farted onto the forum, that it all comes down to personal sensibilities and limits of tolerance and/or proficiency with Orwellian double-think.

Ian, for me I think you hit on a large chunk of it. There are a lot of factors at play but if you will allow me to pontificate on my own behalf I think I will ;D1. What type of transgression are we talking about? Larry Nassar level? My (and by my I mean I live in Nashville TN) mayor's cheating on her husband by bangin' the security dude and pleading guilty to theft or misappropriations of tax payer dollars? DUI arrest? Etc....2. By watching, reading and or listening am I reminded of the transgression. This plays into it big time for me. If I am turned off then it truly alters my enjoyment so I'm likely done with it both from a purely enjoyable factor and on principle, depending on the transgression we are talking about. 3. By me digesting said art form, am I contributing towards the transgressors pocket book? If I am then no. So, in the case of Roman Polanski, would I buy a new copy of Rosemary's Baby? Hell no, assuming he were to derive royalties. Would I watch this movie again on HBO? No in this case as I find pedophilia the absolute lowest form of human behavior, or tied for first anyway.

So, I have a lot of favorite bands/artists but let me take one of them, Allman Brothers, and use them. I've read a few books on them and I recall after reading the first one many years ago, that Gregg Allman was a douche in his drug/alcohol infused days. I recall thinking, damn man, stand up for yourself and others. This was a long time ago of course. I actually thought about that when I would play the albums. It took some of the shine off. I got over it but if I'm being honest that really crossed my mind. Now, let's say ole' Gregg was found to be a pedophile or raped women or murdered someone. Would I toss out the albums? Yes. Maybe I put them in storage, who knows. But, the point is the enjoyment is gone, period. Also, my principles kick in.

I'm forever struggling with principles, of which I'm a strong principled person, and being a hypocrite which I despise in people. I'm always checking myself, always asking myself am I consistent. For violent acts/crimes it's fairly easy for me. Now, for politics? Man, that is a worm hole.

As far as I know, Gary's accusations were in divorce papers filed 17 years ago and "No charges were filed” Divorce papers are not to be taken at face value as I would guess one of the parties had a vested interest in making the other look bad.

I don't know why anyone would ship domestically with UPS. They are absolutely horrible with services, prices, etc. I would much rather ship USPS because, unlike UPS, they will deliver a package even when it arrives early.UPS will let a package sit at either the origin or the destination sorting facility until the very last day. Did you pick 5 day ground? Well, if it takes 3 days to get to your nearest sorting facility then it will sit there for 2 days before it is delivered. Conversely, sometimes it will sit at the origin facility and they bet the odds that they can get it to you on time. (This is not just pedal stuff either. I deal with shipping every day for work)I don't know how many times I have called UPS and asked them "Why has my shipment been sitting in XXXXX facilility for 2 days?"That is why I ALWAYS select USPS Flat Rate when it is available. ANYWHERE in CONUS within 3 working days (and Saturday) up to 70 lbs.

I've noticed that USPS seems to be stepping up their game lately (well barring the whole international flat fiasco).

I've had good luck with UPS and Fedex being either on schedule or ahead of it, but then again I don't do this on a regular basis. I HAVE had business deliveries that looked like they tied it to the bumper of the truck and dragged it cross country before backing over it and handing it to us.

UPS will use any excuse to delay a package. I once had them delay a ground package from Mouser (between TX and Atlanta) because of predicted storms in New England--storms that had not even started. I'm sure there was a legitimate logistical reason (ex. clearing out the backlog before the storms by diverting resources to that area) but it seemed ludicrous.

Who is one of the legends of scifi-fantasy? Last name is McCaffrey, first name... starts with an A...

Anne! Anne McCaffrey!

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But the fact remains that many men continue to be put off by a female name on a book cover,

If a female name puts a male reader off, then they can't be much into dragons, then. Dragons are awesome, and so is Pern.

I find myself falling into this trap occasionally. I'm fond of cheap, fluffy, pulpy scifi/fantasy. I read like I'm watching saturday morning cartoons. One genre I'm fond of is the so called "Urban fantasy" subgenre. Wizard, fae, mythical creatures, etc in a modern-ish urban environment.

And, as a trend, if I pick up a book by a female author in that section of the bookstore, it is probably a crappy romance novel.

This isn't always true, obviously. One of my faves in the genre is Seanan McGuire, so its not like I will never read a lady penned tome. But if I'm just wandering the shelves at the store looking for something random to read (something I do at least once a week on average), I find myself more likely to pick up a book with a male name on the spine. Its a statistical thing I suppose.

Unfortunate, but that has been my experience.

(And yes I love McCaffrey and LeGuin and many others. Blame it on market saturation by people trying to cash in on that Twilight money.)

If heights make you feel a bit ill, then the end of this one will give you fits. Not a job I'd want to do -- I wonder what the mortality rate was?

I laughed at Fred's comment that you wanted an older man holding the bottom of the ladder, since a young man might get distracted by a young lady in a short skirt. You'd need a very strong OCD streak for this -- no safety line, at all!

I can't help but suspect that Occupational Health and Safety would, collectively, only let this happen over their cooling corpses, these days.

That video nearly made me sick to my stomach. Not sure how anyone with balls that big can put on a pair of pants.

I guess we're all wired different but at least in America there are so many safety rules and regs that I'm surprised the iron workers union hasn't packed it in. Those guys are fearless freebs as well. Around Chicago when I still worked open decks (I have a relatively cushy data center gig now) I was famous for NOT getting within 15' of the edge of a deck over 2 stories.

I had heard long before this article, that cave diving is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. One of the guys who literally wrote the book on the sport, died in a cave dive. Even the people who go in to recover your corpse are at risk (if not more, since they have to work the cadaver, which may be in a bad state, through the maze and out.)

When they get them out and recovered, the teacher is going to be asked some very hard questions. I have heard that they went in as a good luck tradition, and a treat for the boys, but doing this when you know that it's the rainy season is utter stupidity.

Doing reckless things seems to be a time honored tradition in those countries. Ferries that set out to see with way too many cars and people on board, trains and busses that have people clinging on for dear life on the outside, cars whose only real working part seems to be the car horn, shoddy construction of housing and public buildings, preferably close areas prone to earthquakes and flooding, they all seem to be favorites. And when something inevitably goes wrong everybody gets mad, and then they do it all over again.

As for cave diving being dangerous, it's probably part of the appeal to the thrillseekers. Occasionally someone dies as Murphy cannot be ignored forever, and then they go 'it's a sad thing, bad luck, he or she was so thorough, their time was up, equipment failure', and then its business as usual. Because human beings consistently underestimate risk and consistently overestimate their own skills. Says the guy who does sports climbing/bouldering once a week and has seen several people injure themselves jumping off the wall and landing badly. And still keeps doing it.

Doing reckless things seems to be a time honored tradition in those countries. Ferries that set out to see with way too many cars and people on board, trains and busses that have people clinging on for dear life on the outside, cars whose only real working part seems to be the car horn, shoddy construction of housing and public buildings, preferably close areas prone to earthquakes and flooding, they all seem to be favorites. And when something inevitably goes wrong everybody gets mad, and then they do it all over again.

I would not extrapolate too much from this one incident onto an entire culture. There are lots of reasons for substandard facilities and dangerous behavior: grinding poverty, disease, fatalism at a cultural level, government corruption, lack of education, a low value of human life and low self-worth. I don't think it's willful recklessness.

I would not extrapolate too much from this one incident onto an entire culture. There are lots of reasons for substandard facilities and dangerous behavior: grinding poverty, disease, fatalism at a cultural level, government corruption, lack of education, a low value of human life and low self-worth. I don't think it's willful recklessness.

I don't get the impression that anything you said contradicts what I said, just that it explained it better. It's not willful recklessness, but it is a general recklessness nonetheless. Which is different from the recklessness we have in the West which is more willful and individual. People willfully doing stupid things for shits and giggles. As opposed to we don't know any better, it worked 99.9% of the times so it will probably do so again and if it doesn't then God/Fate wills it.

I've heard about those guys as well. Isn't it both weird and fascinating that such things exist? And I reckon I must be sort of like those guys as well, as I got a closet full of suits, some of them in weird colors. I mostly bought them for gigs, as I've grown tired of jeans and a black t-shirt with a band print as the standard rock uniform. But you walk through the town dressed in a flashy suit and people will notice you. And give you comments. And so far none of them have been bad.

Tywin Lannister is a very powerful man, who knows how to use that power. Most of it is very clear -- Lannister gold, armies, allies (more like vassals, with how he treats them), etc.

Vetinari is nowhere near as straightforward. All of 'Making Money' is set off, pretty much, purely from Vetinari introducing Moist to Mrs Lavish ("Topsy"). That's not a move that Tywin would have done -- he'd have sent in one of his own men (or Tyrion, or Kevan Lannister) with orders on what to do.

Vetinari's assets are also not straightforward. It's never made clear just how much direct power Vetinari has -- he is, in theory, the tyrant ruler of Ankh Morpork, but he mentions a few times that he is bright enough not to go against popular opinion ("Vox Populi, Vox Deorum"). The Palace Guards are his most obvious personal army, but they aren't many in number, compared to any Westeros army. The clearest thing we know about Vetinari's personal power is that very nearly NOTHING goes on in Ankh Morpork that he doesn't know about.

Vetinari also doesn't make a move unless completely necessary -- in Guards Guards, he allows himself to be thrown in his own dungeon. (Granted, one he'd kitted out for his protection, but still.) This means that he is very hard to predict for other people -- you don't have a track record you can point to, other than that he almost inevitably wins. (The time when he comments that he may have wound Vimes up too far comes to mind -- Vimes doesn't pound the wall outside the Oblong Office like usual, and is in a state of resignation, rather than his usual Sam Vimes rage against the injustice of the world. This time is the obvious exception to Vetinari's usual always-winning byzantine planning.)

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out. With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later. This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

Here's what grinds my gears: youTube. Specifically, if you are making a woodworking video on building something don't put shitty music over it. Or, any music. Use your mic and record what you are actually doing. Do the Diresta thing - when you speed up the video just leave the ambient sound in there sped up. It sounds cool. No one wants to hear the same license-free craploops over and over. It blows!

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out. With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later. This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

I can understand that if you're of the rock before you box school. Personally I've never built anything I did not also box. So I don't have that problem. I've always found it so bewildering that so many of you had so many unboxed circuits around and were complaining that you had to box at least some of them. To me building an effect means also drilling and painting the enclosure. And with Tayda a 125B costs less then the average PCB. So it hardly seems like a waste.

On the downside I do have whole boxes full on pedals I don't use. But I reckon they might still come in handy. Waste not, want not.

Also, don't make a 10-minute YouTube video showing something that can be described entirely in 3 photos and 3 sentences.

+1

Nothing worse then having to scroll to the relevant bits because there's endless rambling. If you want to do that at least provide a link so people can skip it.

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The absolute worst I've seen is a web page that said, "the schematic is in the video".

Yes and no. It makes you want to rip your hair out if you have to do that because no link to a schematic is being given. Additional aggravation points if the video or description says you just have to mail the maker to get the schematic.

On the other hand however, links can disappear over time and the video might outlast any link the maker did provide. Or even the maker himself could disappear and never be heard off again. In which case, annoying though it is, if its included in the video you'll still have something.

I can understand that if you're of the rock before you box school. Personally I've never built anything I did not also box. So I don't have that problem. I've always found it so bewildering that so many of you had so many unboxed circuits around and were complaining that you had to box at least some of them. To me building an effect means also drilling and painting the enclosure. And with Tayda a 125B costs less then the average PCB. So it hardly seems like a waste.

A lot of it comes from the fact that I build a stack of stuff on vero too, and if I don't like it so much a lot of things will get recycled into the next thing. Boxing for me means a hell of a lot of work compared to just building the circuit - that's the easy part - it means templates, artwork, drilling, painting, getting the label right, and starting again if any of those things go wrong. I resanded Dangerzone at least once, and did 2 labels on Naughtyfish, and 4 on Megatron. I actually think there's a lot more commitment needed with a enclosure.

I can understand that if you're of the rock before you box school. Personally I've never built anything I did not also box. So I don't have that problem. I've always found it so bewildering that so many of you had so many unboxed circuits around and were complaining that you had to box at least some of them. To me building an effect means also drilling and painting the enclosure. And with Tayda a 125B costs less then the average PCB. So it hardly seems like a waste.

On the downside I do have whole boxes full on pedals I don't use. But I reckon they might still come in handy. Waste not, want not.

I agree with this in spirit, but also...you might re-evaluate that opinion once you've built 500 circuit boards! Actually, I am definitely getting better about it though. I box a lot more now than I did 5 years ago. I just don't spend as much time on artwork.

I agree with this in spirit, but also...you might re-evaluate that opinion once you've built 500 circuit boards! Actually, I am definitely getting better about it though. I box a lot more now than I did 5 years ago. I just don't spend as much time on artwork.

I might not have 500 pedals or circuits build, but around 200 wouldn't be that far of the mark. I got at least 4 banana boxes full of pedals stashed in a closet.

Thing is though, it's one thing to test a circuit out at home, but I think the only way to find out if a circuit is useful or not is when its on your pedal board in a band setting. I know how it will sound from the youtube vids, I don't need to rock it before I box for that. The vids usually convince me to build something or not. But when I commit to a build, I have to box it in order to rock it with a band.

I agree with this in spirit, but also...you might re-evaluate that opinion once you've built 500 circuit boards! Actually, I am definitely getting better about it though. I box a lot more now than I did 5 years ago. I just don't spend as much time on artwork.

I might not have 500 pedals or circuits build, but around 200 wouldn't be that far of the mark. I got at least 4 banana boxes full of pedals stashed in a closet.

Thing is though, it's one thing to test a circuit out at home, but I think the only way to find out if a circuit is useful or not is when its on your pedal board in a band setting. I know how it will sound from the youtube vids, I don't need to rock it before I box for that. The vids usually convince me to build something or not. But when I commit to a build, I have to box it in order to rock it with a band.

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out. With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later. This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

When a board has mounted pots but i dont want to commit an entire enclosure what i do is take an old enclosure lid left over from a bad drill job and just drill out what i need on the lid. I have a lid around here somewhere from a 1590BB with 2 or 3 projects drilled out of it.

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out. With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later. This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

When a board has mounted pots but i dont want to commit an entire enclosure what i do is take an old enclosure lid left over from a bad drill job and just drill out what i need on the lid. I have a lid around here somewhere from a 1590BB with 2 or 3 projects drilled out of it.

It was leaking water, and we found out that inside the pump itself, there is a little O-ring in a non-obvious place. It was missing.

The ceramic and fabric media in the filter were filthy. The ceramic media got hosed out, the rough pad hosed, and the fine pads were irretrivably filthy, with no replacements on hand.

Check on the internet, and while Eheim white pads are $30NZD for three pads, you can get Chinese knock-offs for $40NZD for two dozen. I'm willing to wait.

The new pads turned up today, and after a clean of the ceramic and rough pads (and also hosing out the intake hose, which was gunked up from amazingly low flow rate due to white pads being filthy), and replacing the pads, it's all good again :)

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out. With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later. This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

When a board has mounted pots but i dont want to commit an entire enclosure what i do is take an old enclosure lid left over from a bad drill job and just drill out what i need on the lid. I have a lid around here somewhere from a 1590BB with 2 or 3 projects drilled out of it.

I also have been suffering with this problem - part of it is that I haven't come to grips with any finishing method and don't want to make a lot of bare boxes with squiggled labels. But also, I am better at building electronic circuits than drilling. I can drill ok, I just find it messy and annoying to do by hand. I don't own a drill press or a vise/fixture, which would improve matters.

Recently I found a sheet of plain FR4 and started using it to experiment with Eurorack front panels for a few modules I am trying to build. Drilling flat panels is easier than enclosures. It just occurred to me that the FR4, or acrylic sheet, etc would make a great fixture for soldering board mounted pots in the way you describe. It's cheap and it's super easy to drill.

I use pieces of cardboard for board mounted pot soldering :-[. Usually bits of the 37 boxes Arrow sends with every order. If I screw up alignment I just trash the piece and try again. I cut a flat panel for the "face" of the box, and a couple side panels so I can make sure I've got everything sufficiently stuffed.

MOSTLY because I have absolutely horrible luck with hand drilling enclosures and I don't have room for a drill press. So my boards aren't "perfectly" suited to their boxes when they finally move into their forever homes, but at least they are populated enough for me to test.

A drill press is an excellent investment though. I got a cheap one, that if I don't need it I can stash it away somewhere out of sight. It's such a life saver when it comes to drilling holes into boxes. And guitars. ;) Easily one of my better investments.

If you center punch accurately where the hole is to go, use quality drill bits, not big box store junk, start with a drill bit sized to fit the center punch dent, then creep up on the final size with intermediate sized bits until you reach your step bit minimum, you can drill just as accurately with a hand drill as with a drill press. A drill press is great and i'd never give up mine but it's total overkill for pedal enclosure drilling.

If you center punch accurately where the hole is to go, use quality drill bits, not big box store junk, start with a drill bit sized to fit the center punch dent, then creep up on the final size with intermediate sized bits until you reach your step bit minimum, you can drill just as accurately with a hand drill as with a drill press. A drill press is great and i'd never give up mine but it's total overkill for pedal enclosure drilling.

dave

Agree 100%

I have been hand drilling with bits and step bits for years. I do not do commercial so drilling consistent templates is not needed for me however, I have tried drill presses in the past and found that the same issues arise as with hand drilling. You still have to 'vice' down the box or else it will wander (unless you have vices for hands or a super strong grip) and even so, the "vice" you use can marr the enclosure.

Like I said, I am not commercial so there is no need for consistent hole pattern drilling so hand drilling works well for me.

Wow. Just wow. I've been watching some car vids on youtube, and, if I'm understanding rightly...

The Ford Model A had it's petrol tank placed just below the front window, where the dash goes in modern cars. This meant that Ford only needed a simple tube going down to the engine, and no fuel pump (either mechanical or electrical) needed.

Hey, kids! Who wants to drive around with a lap full of petrol!

Sure, it kept costs down during production, but you'd want to be really, really careful not to get T-boned in an accident.

If you center punch accurately where the hole is to go, use quality drill bits, not big box store junk, start with a drill bit sized to fit the center punch dent, then creep up on the final size with intermediate sized bits until you reach your step bit minimum, you can drill just as accurately with a hand drill as with a drill press. A drill press is great and i'd never give up mine but it's total overkill for pedal enclosure drilling.

I couldn't live without my center punch. Even though it is a $2.99 Harbor Freight centerpunch, one of my better investments. I can drill ok with a hand drill, but think what I'm really lacking is a table and fixture, more so than the actual press. Especially drilling the sides of enclosures is sort of annoying. I should at least try to make a fixture to hold boxes, with some 2x4 and furniture clamps.

my solution to enclosure marring (vise, metal chips, whatever) is blue painters tape. extra layers applied to surfaces that will meet the vise. also there are no-mar replacement vise jaws or magnetic ones will stick to the ones you have

Unless the center punch is accurate and you're drilling a pilot hole with a good quality sharp drill bit small enough to fit inside the center punch dent. A drill press will have the same issues as a hand drill, a dull poor quality bit's going to skate across the surface until it bites in where it can.

I use an optical center punch to ensure the punch exactly hits the crosshairs of the layout.

I haven't used a vise when hand drilling or with the drill press. The right size bit and a free enclosure allows the bit to center the enclosure under it and drill perfectly on center. i drill 1/16" pilot hole, then enlarge with 3/32" then 1/8", from there i'll use a step bit that goes from 1/8 - 1/2" in 1/32" steps.

And of course it's always advised to clamp your workpiece but with sharp bits and 1/32" steps there's pretty much no torque on the enclosure.dave

I haven't used a vise when hand drilling or with the drill press. The right size bit and a free enclosure allows the bit to center the enclosure under it and drill perfectly on center. i drill 1/16" pilot hole, then enlarge with 3/32" then 1/8", from there i'll use a step bit that goes from 1/8 - 1/2" in 1/32" steps.

And of course it's always advised to clamp your workpiece but with sharp bits and 1/32" steps there's pretty much no torque on the enclosure.

This and lots of practice.If one pot/switch doesn't line up, i just step bit the hole one size larger.Step bits are a DIY'ers best friend.

I have always hand drilled but I clamp. But then I don't do production and do one offs with oddball pot designs just to keep me interested. So if I'm off 1/32" it doesn't affect me too much but I am pretty much spot on as I take my time and never drill after 3 beers ;D I also don't do pot mounted PCB's.

my solution to enclosure marring (vise, metal chips, whatever) is blue painters tape. extra layers applied to surfaces that will meet the vise. also there are no-mar replacement vise jaws or magnetic ones will stick to the ones you have

Two bits of neoprene or what have you also works well. Just make sure they're reasonably clean before clamping the piece down.

Wow. Just wow. I've been watching some car vids on youtube, and, if I'm understanding rightly...

The Ford Model A had it's petrol tank placed just below the front window, where the dash goes in modern cars. This meant that Ford only needed a simple tube going down to the engine, and no fuel pump (either mechanical or electrical) needed.

Hey, kids! Who wants to drive around with a lap full of petrol!

Sure, it kept costs down during production, but you'd want to be really, really careful not to get T-boned in an accident.

Considering that until a few decades ago cars had no airbags, safety belts, safety zones, or basically any safety features whatsoever, and that many of us still don't like using them, that tank might have been the least of your worries. It's weird that we get so worked up over things that have such a statistically insignificant chance of killing us, like terrorism, or even a mad gunman killing spree, while traffic accidents, pollution, smoking and poor nutrition kills us by thousands each year after year after year. But of course those deaths never make it to the 8 o'clock news.

Well, are you any safer now, or less safer now then before lets say 9-11? All the anal probing at the airports, soldiers on te streets of Europe, it's basically all to make you feel good. I don't think any administration since, in the US, or Europe too for that matter, has done anything to make us actually safer. All window dressing and bureaucracy.

Well, are you any safer now, or less safer now then before lets say 9-11? All the anal probing at the airports, soldiers on te streets of Europe, it's basically all to make you feel good. I don't think any administration since, in the US, or Europe too for that matter, has done anything to make us actually safer. All window dressing and bureaucracy.

Security theatre. Take some minimum wage temporary employees, put a TSA "badge" on their shirts, and tell them they're the vanguard of the War on Terrorism. Give local police departments APCs, high end imaging and communication equipment, fancy firearms to "fight terrorism" and watch them use the gear to further their efforts in banditry asset forfeiture. It's been a smash and grab on the taxpayer from the first day and politicians on both sides have been jostling for the prime spot at the trough.

Well, are you any safer now, or less safer now then before lets say 9-11? All the anal probing at the airports, soldiers on te streets of Europe, it's basically all to make you feel good. I don't think any administration since, in the US, or Europe too for that matter, has done anything to make us actually safer. All window dressing and bureaucracy.

Mostly.

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

Well, are you any safer now, or less safer now then before lets say 9-11? All the anal probing at the airports, soldiers on te streets of Europe, it's basically all to make you feel good. I don't think any administration since, in the US, or Europe too for that matter, has done anything to make us actually safer. All window dressing and bureaucracy.

Mostly.

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

I agree with John. My take is what we actually see is mostly window dressing. What we don't see is absolutely not.

I guess the question for every American is what if all this stopped just one incident? Is it worth it? Now ask that question if your family is on the plane.

Well, are you any safer now, or less safer now then before lets say 9-11? All the anal probing at the airports, soldiers on te streets of Europe, it's basically all to make you feel good. I don't think any administration since, in the US, or Europe too for that matter, has done anything to make us actually safer. All window dressing and bureaucracy.

Mostly.

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

I agree with John. My take is what we actually see is mostly window dressing. What we don't see is absolutely not.

I guess the question for every American is what if all this stopped just one incident? Is it worth it? Now ask that question if your family is on the plane that was the one incident that got through.

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

Since the airport security was... altered, let's say (I don't want to get into effectiveness), the true nutters have changed to either "lone wolf" attacks, where they fill some useful idiot's head with nonsense and then send him out with no knowledge of any planned attacks on their part, or the European style attacks we've seen, where a truck is stolen, and driven into large gatherings of people -- what can we do, ban trucks? Put bollards up, everywhere?

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

Personally I think the war on terror has achieved the complete opposite. There is more terrorist activity now. And its uncontrollable right now. The big network may have been smashed, but it just went local, creating a giant Al Qaida brand, which has now been joined with the more trendy ISIS brand. The war also got sidetracked into doing stupid stuff, like invading Iraq and toppling one secular Arab regime after the other, leading to the chaos that gave rise to the rival and far more deadly ISIS brand. Almost the entire Sahara is now an Al Qaida no go zone, ISIS is popping up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are doing more then just holding their own. And the worst of all, like alanp said, you don't even need a network any more. Any lone wolf, radicalized by watching propaganda online can turn deadly. That Arab young man you see on the street by the bus stop? He can now be a suicide bomber. Or pull a knife. Or drive his car into people. Or her, as when it comes to terrorism, suddenly they don't discriminate any more.

Yeah, the big attacks will probably not happen. But those are like plane accidents. They don't happen that often, and the chances of being caught in one are like being hit by lightning, not that high. The lone wolf attack, that's more like car accidents, far more likely to happen, far more random. So, I'd say, the war on terror has failed. Abysmally.

The War on Terror has done a pretty good job of disrupting the kind of terrorist networks/funding that can pull off big attacks (whether it's been worth the cost or not is another question entirely). Additionally, there are certain law enforcement reforms (at least in the US anyway) which have been very good at breaking up terrorist attacks before they can be executed. The FBI, for instance, has gotten extremely good at selling fake explosives to would-be terrorists.

But, yeah, 99.99% of what we see is, as EBRAddict put it, pure security theater.

Since the airport security was... altered, let's say (I don't want to get into effectiveness), the true nutters have changed to either "lone wolf" attacks, where they fill some useful idiot's head with nonsense and then send him out with no knowledge of any planned attacks on their part, or the European style attacks we've seen, where a truck is stolen, and driven into large gatherings of people -- what can we do, ban trucks? Put bollards up, everywhere?

In any sort of criminal behavior there's always going to be an element of what when I was in the army I called "TTP (tactics, tools, procedures) Whack-A-Mole"---people are thinking, creative, resourceful creatures and it's difficult to stop them from doing things they've set their mind to doing. While certain physical security measures are simply prudent, I've advocated primarily focusing on motive for a long time now because, as much as I liked blowing up dickheads' IEDs, it's just a hell of a lot more effective than trying to deal with what happens after you've already crossed the point of failure (a person who's willing and motivated to kill as many people as possible).

Personally I think the war on terror has achieved the complete opposite. There is more terrorist activity now. And its uncontrollable right now. The big network may have been smashed, but it just went local, creating a giant Al Qaida brand, which has now been joined with the more trendy ISIS brand. The war also got sidetracked into doing stupid stuff, like invading Iraq and toppling one secular Arab regime after the other, leading to the chaos that gave rise to the rival and far more deadly ISIS brand. Almost the entire Sahara is now an Al Qaida no go zone, ISIS is popping up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are doing more then just holding their own. And the worst of all, like alanp said, you don't even need a network any more. Any lone wolf, radicalized by watching propaganda online can turn deadly. That Arab young man you see on the street by the bus stop? He can now be a suicide bomber. Or pull a knife. Or drive his car into people. Or her, as when it comes to terrorism, suddenly they don't discriminate any more.

Yeah, the big attacks will probably not happen. But those are like plane accidents. They don't happen that often, and the chances of being caught in one are like being hit by lightning, not that high. The lone wolf attack, that's more like car accidents, far more likely to happen, far more random. So, I'd say, the war on terror has failed. Abysmally.

Any which way someone's opinion falls on this issue, it's definitely a big, complicated mess with a whole lot of uncertainty and unknowables thrown in. Like, we have no idea what terrorism would look like today without the GWOT; certainly different but we can't know if it would be overall better or worse. We have no idea what the collapse of Iraq would have looked like (the "stability" of Saddam's regime we now know was a veneer which was peeling rapidly) nor how the aftermath would have played out.

We also don't know if and to what extent the GWOT may have attenuated the behavior of certain nations who like to fund terrorism without getting caught in the act and called out for it (think: KGB funding/training/equipping of terrorists during operations SIG and TAYFUN).

I think it's safe to say that there's been a mixed bag of results and whether the overall result is a net positive or negative is really difficult to parse. Hopefully things are better now than they would of been but I honestly don't know if that's true or not.

In any sort of criminal behavior there's always going to be an element of what when I was in the army I called "TTP (tactics, tools, procedures) Whack-A-Mole"---people are thinking, creative, resourceful creatures and it's difficult to stop them from doing things they've set their mind to doing.

I can't remember the author, but in the 90s I read an interesting PDF that talked about how, in computer game design, you (as a designer) are up against humans, who are very good at optimizing, and how they will find the most reward for least effort path in your game.

Very interesting video essay, this -- I have played KOTOR 2, but I hadn't thought of it in terms of deconstructionism. I had noticed the deconstructionist themes in TLJ, but hadn't chased it down like this guy does.

how they will find the most reward for least effort path in your game.

The perfect example of this (and I had a friend who was a master at it - these are his strategies, before the internet) is in the original X-com 1. Want money? All you have to do is build laser pistols flat out every cycle, and sell them off. Nothing else gives you a better cost vs profit result, nearly to the point of breaking the game.

In Simcity 2000, the trick is to build everything along the lines of a 9x9 square, putting your water pump in the center square...

I recently had this discussion with my wife with regards to exactly this whole notion of insisting on being called doctor ... if you've earned your doctorate, you've earned the right to be a dick about being called doctor.

For me, I understand that she wants to be called Dr. in this case, when the flight attendend looked at her ticket and saw it, but it's not like she's no longer a woman so "Miss" should be totally fine.In Austria, when you have an academic title, it's common to show it (it's printed on your insurrance and bank cards, etc.). I personally never liked that. Sure it comes in handy, if you want to fix an appointment and you are "the Doctor", but should it? Isn't it supposed to be unimportant what title the person has (still talking about the appointment thing)?

IMHO, this is a case of first-world problems. Still not a reason to be a dick about it online. She worked for her title and it's her right to be proud of that. I guess it comes down to how proud you actually are of it and how modest you are.

For me, I understand that she wants to be called Dr. in this case, when the flight attendend looked at her ticket and saw it, but it's not like she's no longer a woman so "Miss" should be totally fine.In Austria, when you have an academic title, it's common to show it (it's printed on your insurrance and bank cards, etc.). I personally never liked that. Sure it comes in handy, if you want to fix an appointment and you are "the Doctor", but should it? Isn't it supposed to be unimportant what title the person has (still talking about the appointment thing)?

IMHO, this is a case of first-world problems. Still not a reason to be a dick about it online. She worked for her title and it's her right to be proud of that. I guess it comes down to how proud you actually are of it and how modest you are.

In some cases it can be a real pet peeve for people. One of my former lab directors was a woman, who had a doctorate. Her husband did not. But, their household was constantly getting mail addressed to "Dr. and Mrs. Zutshi". There was always the assumption that the male in the house was the doctor, and she just the wife. It really became a point of aggravation given how often it came up.

In this case the ladies title was listed on the ticket and its possible it was a similar situation. Perhaps she thought the stewardess was assuming she was the "plus one" of a doctor. I don't know for certain, but I can get it becoming a sticking point for people.

I have a university degree, I almost never use it. And I certainly don't insist to be called by it by others, even though I could, which I think is a sign of an inflated ego. The way I see it anyone can get an university degree, and having gotten one myself, I find them utterly meaningless. The only persons deserving to be called doctor on a daily basis are medical staff, as its part of their function. This person seems to have both an inflated ego and playing the sexism/victim card, which to me makes this person double useless. The people who do all the behind the scenes work that keep the university this person studied on working are more useful to society then this person is. This person deserves all the scorn this person got, although it could have been done more nicely. But that's not so much sexism as how the anonymity of the internet seems to take away all civility from people.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I remember an old story from a industrial lab I did an internship in, where one of the secretaries told my friend, "The scientists are ok until they get a PhD, then they get full of themselves." I resolved not to do that. I did get a PhD, but I never expect to be called Dr. something.

On the other hand, I have lots of friends who also have doctorates in scientific research, and the women are constantly being undervalued, condescended to, taken for students, mansplained to about their own work (I dislike that phrase, but it's accurate here), and so on. So more of them have started insisting on using the professional title. However, they want to use it in the professional context, not at the coffee shop. That's where this went off the rails, I think.

Just because someone writes or says something publicly doesn't mean it needs to be discussed, especially when someone's obviously venting. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to just read a complaint and move on instead of trying to put someone in their place. How that was worth a news article or even the time required to respond to the tweet is beyond me.

And I also agree that if someone dedicates half their life to the single minded pursuit of a narrow topic they've earned the right to once in a while insist on being called by their title. I'd insist on being called Sir if I got knighted. I'd also walk around in a frigging suit of armor and ride a damn horse. 'Cause that's what knights do.

Hear this comment often. I usually drive with headlights on, even in the day. But I never need lights to see where I'm going, even at night... I live in the city and there's always street lighting! The Lights are so people are more likely to see me, and therefore less likely to be stoopid... It's risk mitigation through increased visibility.

Years ago I did an advanced driver course at a racetrack for work... its where I learnt this. Now I always keep my tyres well inflated too, at least 36-38psi. Nothing quite as eye opening as watching first-hand how much an underinflated tyre compresses under emergency braking! I saw the rims dip within a couple cm of the road surface... if that rim kisses road you can blow out. That tyre was 29psi! So anyways, the lights on thing is quite deliberate, at least for me. :)

I used to drive tractor/trailer and that made me a pretty conscientious driver. Visibility is so important. I always drive with my headlights on. Like nzCdog said, it dramatically increases your visibility to other drivers. When I had my motorcycle I wore a white helmet for the same reason. It stands out in traffic. The headlights on thing also functions for me as a handy habit. Because I always turn them on, I'm in the habit of always turning them off, so I don't accidentally leave them on. I'm forgetful enough to do that even when my car dings at me about it.

UPS Mail Innovations (that program where UPS carries the package to your local USPS office and then they do the actual delivery) is no "innovation at all! Had a package shipped this way. The package arrived at local UPS warehouse (40 miles away) at 2AM on Friday morning. It has sat there until this (Monday) day when apparently it was transferred to the USPS. Delivery isn't going to be until Wednesday!!!

This is why I strictly mail with USPS. If I would have had the choice to ship strictly USPS, I probably would have had this package last Thursday >:(

Between shows like Pimp My Ride, and video showing cars like that (and I don't mean the German-Italian car)...

I'm pretty certain by now that there is absolutely no warrant of fitness process for cars on American roads. Going by what I see hot rodders driving on public roads, as long as you aren't speeding, traffic cops don't give a shit.

And they really should have hired a Diablo, not an Adventador. The Diablo is probably closer to what would turn them on -- it was the last Lambo, IIRC, before all the electric wizardry was splooged into the guts of them. I noticed that they complained about getting into the Lambo, but were also very careful not to talk about the actual comfort of the driving, compared to the other car (where he was joking about driving along with one foot sitting on the bloody dashboard!)

it depends on the state and age of the vehicle regarding the safety requirements. if you can acquire an original frame and metal chassis, you can get away with a lot regarding safety requirements. generally speaking, antique automobiles were grandfathered in to vehicle safety requirements so if the car didn't originally have that particular safety or emissions feature, there's no requirement for it to have it now. states like California require you to maintain any emissions features a car might have had, including any of the seriously power robbing features of the early to mid 1970s. for instance, a lot of companies offer aftermarket exhaust manifolds with smog pump fittings on them because the originals had them and California requires them.

I recently had this discussion with my wife with regards to exactly this whole notion of insisting on being called doctor ... if you've earned your doctorate, you've earned the right to be a dick about being called doctor.

Excuse me, I'm going to need everyone to address me as Former Sergeant Frag Magnet; I didn't spend six years finger-banging things which were supposed to blow up (but didn't) to be addressed like the rest of you mere plebs. ::)

I'll say here what I said in the Twitter discussion (apparently criticism = "trolling" now):

If one's in a professional and/or academic environment and the title is pertinent to the given situation, it's absolutely appropriate to insist on the use of a title. It's a matter of professional (or academic) courtesy and respect.

However, if you're outside of that context in a mass of other people all of whom have things to do, STFU. It's not about you. You're not special and odds are you're only interested in making blue collar/service workers with enough on their plate already address you as their social superior.

I know that there's a half-populated Moodring PCB kicking around here somewhere. I just can't find it. I did find some valve VCA pcbs I got given in a trade, some old Doppelganger prototype PCBs, some overdrives and fuzzes I never got around to boxing, the half-populated Tides PCB from the run with no silkscreen I did... no moodring.

Annoyingly, the Belton Brick I picked up for the project, I had in two seconds.

Fun bit of trivia -- the phrase "balls out" comes from the governor in old steam engines. When the engine is roaring along at full trot, the two spherical weights on the governor are extended completely out.

The phrase "balls to the wall" comes from aviation -- if the pilot wanted full engine power, he'd slam the throttles (usually with balls on the tips for easier grabbing than just a stick) all the wall forward against the firewall.

I love the origins of phrases, another balls one is "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" or I think just "brass". Comes from the cannon on ships era when the balls were kept on brass trays called monkeys and when it was cold the metal.. contracted (?) and the balls would fall off.

Funny choice of words. In another false-origin story, it's claimed that the acronym s.h.i.t. (ship high in transit) referenced an old shipping practice for transporting explosive methane-producing cargo up high so the ship didn't blow up (why do these stories almost always involve ships?). This is also a false etymology, but tons of people still believe it, "because it was on them Internets". Personally I find these kind of made-up stories distressing. Who is making this stuff up, and the better question is...why?? I would say, if anybody tells you a word or phrase came from old shipping practices, it's made up.

It says more about humans in general, I think. A good story will suck anyone in and cause them to suspend your sense of disbelief. (When Superman came out, with Christopher Reeve, how many people in the theatre were sitting there saying, but people can't fly!)

Pratchett and Cohen made a good argument for changing our scientific name from Homo Sapiens Sapiens, really wise man, to Pans Narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.

Almost every "bad" word in English is Anglo-Saxon, baring some corner cases that are loan words, like bint, which isn't even a bad word in the language it was borrowed from and is probably only used as an insult because of the likely way British soldiers uhhhh learned it.

Do they have "shag carpet" in the UK, and if so, does it mean the same as in the US?

On a flight back to the US from London several years ago, I noticed that the flight attendants made a special effort to call the in-flight meal "sausage and mash", presumably so some Americans wouldn't go into pervy creep mode at the sound of "bangers" being said by an attractive female.

Do they have "shag carpet" in the UK, and if so, does it mean the same as in the US?

On a flight back to the US from London several years ago, I noticed that the flight attendants made a special effort to call the in-flight meal "sausage and mash", presumably so some Americans wouldn't go into pervy creep mode at the sound of "bangers" being said by an attractive female.

"Shag" carpeting started in Europe, so presumably. The word derives originall from the Norse word for "Beard" via old English.

The sex connotation appears to come from an older phrase "shag your wick", straightening/trimming the wick of a candle that has been burnt and snuffed so that it will burn more cleanly upon re-lighting. This became slang for "getting it back up for round two", and eventually just for sex in general.

A "university degree" -- do you mean a bachelor's or a doctorate? Because those aren't the same thing.

The Netherlands used a different system back then before adopting the bachelor/master degree system. There was only a single degree, so everyone graduated were called a doctorandus, or drs, or ingenieur (engineer) or ir in the case of a technical study. Doctorandus is still my official title. Since adopting the anglo-saxon model all those who have graduated previously can now call themselves master. So I'm now technically a M.A. master of arts.

Bint is a bit regional, it's a derogatory term for a lady. Usually twinned with daft or silly.Shagging is bonking here. We do have shag carpet.For confusion, a fanny in the US is a bottom, in the UK it's a lady's front bottom.One that I see a lot on US streams and TV is flicking the V. Which in the UK is akin to flipping someone the bird, which I assume is not what they're doing ;)

Not sure if it's true, but I like the story. I've heard that the two (and later, one middle ) finger insult started out as three fingers. Apparently the English soldiers would cut off the three middle fingers of French archers if they captured them. It meant the archers could no longer arch, so they were now a useless soldier. The French archers would insult the English at the start of battles by showing the three middle fingers.

The backwards V is the insulting version, I believe? Where the back of your hand is facing the other person?

Yep, the other way around is the traditional victory thing. Which gets confusing when you see Churchill flicking the backwards version one time... The backwards one is something to do with French archers I believe.

My wife told me somewhat recently that she wanted to buy a fanny pack. I spit out my coffee, not because of what "fanny" means, but rather because it is such a hideous looking thing to want to wear.

On this fascinating topic of language and gesture differences, I just read something that I'm not sure I believe. It is this:

Quote

The thumbs-up sign does not mean “that’s great” in Australia as it does here [in the US]. There, it means “up yours” or the painful-sounding “sit on it.” Basically, you are telling a person that you hope he gets something inserted up his bottom.

Not sure if it's true, but I like the story. I've heard that the two (and later, one middle ) finger insult started out as three fingers. Apparently the English soldiers would cut off the three middle fingers of French archers if they captured them. It meant the archers could no longer arch, so they were now a useless soldier. The French archers would insult the English at the start of battles by showing the three middle fingers.

I'd like to believe it's true anyway, it's too good a story.

Yeah, it's pretty much B.S. The gesture is not that old, and it makes no sense in historical context. You wouldn't mutilate captured soldiers, you'd execute them. And what's to stop them from using the rest of their fingers to draw the bow? You don't need a lot of precision to fire arrows in a 45 degree arc toward the bad guys on your captain's order.

Not sure if it's true, but I like the story. I've heard that the two (and later, one middle ) finger insult started out as three fingers. Apparently the English soldiers would cut off the three middle fingers of French archers if they captured them. It meant the archers could no longer arch, so they were now a useless soldier. The French archers would insult the English at the start of battles by showing the three middle fingers.

I'd like to believe it's true anyway, it's too good a story.

From what I gathered it was the other way around. Which makes more sense as it was English archers who wreaked havoc on French knights with their long bows. Never the other way around, as the French favored the crossbow more.

On this fascinating topic of language and gesture differences, I just read something that I'm not sure I believe. It is this:

Quote

The thumbs-up sign does not mean “that’s great” in Australia as it does here [in the US]. There, it means “up yours” or the painful-sounding “sit on it.” Basically, you are telling a person that you hope he gets something inserted up his bottom.

Is that really true? :o

Not true as far as I'm concerned. Thumbs up means good. Two fingers or middle finger up means "up yours". Maybe it has changed over time? But certainly as far as I can remember, thumbs up has always meant "good" in Australia.

Not sure if it's true, but I like the story. I've heard that the two (and later, one middle ) finger insult started out as three fingers. Apparently the English soldiers would cut off the three middle fingers of French archers if they captured them. It meant the archers could no longer arch, so they were now a useless soldier. The French archers would insult the English at the start of battles by showing the three middle fingers.

I'd like to believe it's true anyway, it's too good a story.

Yeah, it's pretty much B.S. The gesture is not that old, and it makes no sense in historical context. You wouldn't mutilate captured soldiers, you'd execute them. And what's to stop them from using the rest of their fingers to draw the bow? You don't need a lot of precision to fire arrows in a 45 degree arc toward the bad guys on your captain's order.

Yeah, I was more hoping it was true than believing it would be. Although...have you tried to draw a traditional long bow? I suspect it would be pretty damn hard when missing the three middle fingers.

Having a quick read, the legend is that it was allegedly English longbowmen to the French who were essentially showing that they had their fingers. The story goes that the French would cut off the fingers of captured archers... That said, taking prisoners wasn't much of a thing then, hence people think it's probably bollocks.

Here's an example of how to use the V sign jovially to someone you'd rather not have photographed you.

All the unbelievably oblique references feel like when you're invited to an acquaintance's party, but you don't know anyone there (except the acquaintance, who is NOT at friend level yet), and they are all using in-clique references, and nothing you can add to the conversation about.

I quite like American Pie. So maybe I don't get all the references any more, are you still able to get all the pop culture references when you watch a 60's or 70's movie? How much of the culture reference can you still understand when you're watching a 1930's Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy movie? I reckon true staying power of a song, book or movie is when it manages to survive the era of its creation and still be enjoyed by new people.

So American Pie is getting a little obscure, it's still a fun catchy song that you can still play in a club or bar and have young people sing along. In fact I have seen young people sing along to it in a bar.

The local Classic Rock station here refuses to play any song made after 1987. I know this because the only music they play from 1987 is Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. Typically, the music played is between 1965 and 1983. Now, I realize that it is a classic rock station but, I would think they could play SOMETHING made in the last 30 years!!! AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, etc. is all you hear over, and over, and over!!It's like Van Halen's 1984 album coming out and hearing nothing but Elvis, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis on the radio!!

The funniest part is that their station breaks say "From Nirvana to Hendrix" or "From Foo Fighters to Black Sabbath." Hahahaha! I listen to that station religiously all day (it's the ONLY rock station in the area) and I have YET to hear any Nirvana or Foo Fighters!

The local Classic Rock station here refuses to play any song made after 1987. I know this because the only music they play from 1987 is Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. Typically, the music played is between 1965 and 1983. Now, I realize that it is a classic rock station but, I would think they could play SOMETHING made in the last 30 years!!! AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, etc. is all you hear over, and over, and over!!It's like Van Halen's 1984 album coming out and hearing nothing but Elvis, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis on the radio!!

The funniest part is that their station breaks say "From Nirvana to Hendrix" or "From Foo Fighters to Black Sabbath." Hahahaha! I listen to that station religiously all day (it's the ONLY rock station in the area) and I have YET to hear any Nirvana or Foo Fighters!

You mean 100.7? They definitely play 90's stuff in commuting hours. They played some Gin Blossoms one time, and I was like, !$#%.

This is my favourite station. It doesn't play exclusively rock, but it's the kind of station I think of as a "compromise" station -- good for a group of people with vastly differing ideas on what constitutes good music. Some Pink Floyd, Sabbath, as well as that hiphop song, "I Got 99 Problems". Plus Mumford and Sons, that kind of modern music, a bit of Nirvana, everything, really. (Compromises aren't always bad!)

While driving home from a birthday party today, my six-year-old daughter who has no real history of behavioral problems spewed forth some murderous racist comments. I'm feeling like a huge fucking failure as a parent right now. :-[ :'(

While driving home from a birthday party today, my six-year-old daughter who has no real history of behavioral problems spewed forth some murderous racist comments. I'm feeling like a huge fucking failure as a parent right now. :-[ :'(

Hey brother. I work with kids for a living and I am a parent of four. Your kids’ hearts and their faith are their own. You’re a steward but you can’t control their hearts. Hang in there and teach and model the truth. You’re probably not a failure but you will feel like one a LOT. That’s how it is with me. Also, kids parrot a lot of stuff and often have way less understanding of what they are saying than we realize. Patience and gentle correction can be powerful. Hang in there man. Don’t get discouraged.

Sounds like an opening for a constructive discussion instead? Random comments like this from youngsters arent that unusual, you never know where they pick these things up. We always talk thing through with our kids, have debriefs after 'interesting' events... But only when everyone has cooled off a bit. Honestly, its not always the kids misbehaving in my house. Sometimes Dad has to apologise for a grumpy outburst, nobody is perfect... and no family is perfect. :-[ Anyway, this was supposed to be encouraging. You're not alone bro! :)

While driving home from a birthday party today, my six-year-old daughter who has no real history of behavioral problems spewed forth some murderous racist comments. I'm feeling like a huge fucking failure as a parent right now. :-[ :'(

The universe truly has a perverse sense of humor. A comedian once said that whatever you hate, your kids will end upp loving it or bring it home to you. That when you hate gays or blacks, your son will become gay or your daughter will bring home her black boyfriend. I wouldn't know from personal experience if that were true, but I talked to a single mother recently and she hates football (the real thing, not American power armored rugby) and materialism, and she has to go out early on saturdays to watch her son play football and all he cares about is what expensive logos are on his clothing and smartphone. And it reminded me of that comedian again.

Another thing to keep in mind that it matters not that much what they think and say right now, as kids are fickle and prone to easy influence by friends, school, the media, society in general. It matters who they are when they finally do grow up. And if you can keep that infernal smartphone out of their hands. Because that damn thing will be the biggest influence in their lives, far more then you will ever be. And do you really want to leave their education up to the beast that is social media?

I wish I could tell you that she was merely repeating an offensive phrase that she heard from someone else. Instead, she expressed that she hated all members of a certain race, and a couple minutes later, after asking us a few questions about where laws come from, she said she wished that she was the president so she could enact a law that says that all members of the race that she hated should be killed.

All of a sudden, the world is like a Tom Clancy novel...Russians get busted for trying to hack the OPCW in The Hague (my back yard basically), the head of interpol goes missing and Saoudis supposedly sent a 15 man hit squad after a journalist...

I'm seriously entertaining the possibility that this sort of thing has been going on since, say, the Romans and Egyptians but all of a sudden it's really out there in the open and it feels freaky and uneasy.

The internet also allows all the nutters, the alu hat tin foil brigades and other like minded crazies to find each other and reinforce eachother in their crazy. In that sense its becoming harder and harder to separate truth from opinion or even fiction.

That being said I'm of the opinion that everything that we, as in the West, accuses others of doing, we're doing ourselves as well, if not worse. The Russians aren't sinners and we as hell ain't saints. It's all grey. I also find it highly ironic that we allow the Saudis to get away with behavior in Yemen that we bomb Assad for in Syria, and that it took the death of a journalist for our political and journalist classes to finally take notice what utter bastards the Saudis are. I'm afraid that the West will huff and puff a little, but the Saudis have untold billions that they are willing to spend to make us like them again, so I doubt the cruise missiles will be flying towards Ryad. And thus the people in Yemen will continue to die. With our help.

And now I'll take off my alu tin foil hat again and step down of my soapbox again.

The internet also allows all the nutters, the alu hat tin foil brigades and other like minded crazies to find each other and reinforce eachother in their crazy. In that sense its becoming harder and harder to separate truth from opinion or even fiction.

That being said I'm of the opinion that everything that we, as in the West, accuses others of doing, we're doing ourselves as well, if not worse. The Russians aren't sinners and we as hell ain't saints. It's all grey. I also find it highly ironic that we allow the Saudis to get away with behavior in Yemen that we bomb Assad for in Syria, and that it took the death of a journalist for our political and journalist classes to finally take notice what utter bastards the Saudis are. I'm afraid that the West will huff and puff a little, but the Saudis have untold billions that they are willing to spend to make us like them again, so I doubt the cruise missiles will be flying towards Ryad. And thus the people in Yemen will continue to die. With our help.

And now I'll take off my alu tin foil hat again and step down of my soapbox again.

To summarize, have you noticed how other nations rake action while we mainly make threats? We’re like bad parents of spoiled brats. If you don’t stop, we’ll say stop again....

[soapbox] Often times, you have to look at both sides of a conversation, remove yourself, and look at it from a different view point. Is an individual helpful, comic relief, or disruptive. If you look below the surface, and know the history, you will find that much more goes on than appears, and that the majority are very tolerable. Therefore, decisions are not made lightly, and nothing is ruled with an iron fist. The bigger picture is always looked at, and very fair.

I have found that hate for the sake of hate is very unproductive and extremely intolerable by the majority. These individuals are often self destructive and eventually dealt with either on their own or by the ones who moderate. Take for example, prejudices in society. Is it free speech or hate speech. Is it tolerated by everyone, or self moderated to its own place where it is welcomed? Opinions are always welcomed, but boundaries have to be respected.[/soapbox]

O.K., not to save you some of the recent topics, but I got to get off my chest. Why are people in eBay so freaking cheap.

I have so many stories. I $90 item that someone wants to pay $20 for and want you to pay the shipping on top of that. Come on really?

A four dollar item that someone wants to bargain you down to one dollar for! That one the guy actually called me an elitist jerk for not selling it to him.

And it doesn’t work the other way around. I have had people Send me offers and it specifically says on eBay didn’t offer does not include shipping. I had one guy who threatened up and down to give me horrible reviews if I didn’t give him free shipping because I never mention that in my reply offer to him.

I worked very hard to get 100 positive feedback.

Anyway rant over.

Let’s talk about the importance stuff like land mines and endangered species like reporters.

O.K., not as serious as some of the recent topics, but I got to get off my chest. Why are people in eBay so freaking cheap.

I have so many stories. I $90 item that someone wants to pay $20 for and want you to pay the shipping on top of that. Come on really?

A four dollar item that someone wants to bargain you down to one dollar for! That one the guy actually called me an elitist jerk for not selling it to him.

And it doesn’t work the other way around. I have had people Send me offers and it specifically says on eBay didn’t offer does not include shipping. I had one guy who threatened up and down to give me horrible reviews if I didn’t give him free shipping because I never mention that in my reply offer to him.

I worked very hard to get 100 positive feedback.

One guy is going to ruin that.

Anyway rant over.

Let’s talk about the importance stuff like land mines and endangered species like reporters.

O.K., not as serious as some of the recent topics, but I got to get off my chest. Why are people in eBay so freaking cheap.

I have so many stories. I $90 item that someone wants to pay $20 for and want you to pay the shipping on top of that. Come on really?

A four dollar item that someone wants to bargain you down to one dollar for! That one the guy actually called me an elitist jerk for not selling it to him.

And it doesn’t work the other way around. I have had people Send me offers and it specifically says on eBay didn’t offer does not include shipping. I had one guy who threatened up and down to give me horrible reviews if I didn’t give him free shipping because I never mention that in my reply offer to him.

I worked very hard to get 100 positive feedback.

One guy is going to ruin that.

Anyway rant over.

Let’s talk about the importance stuff like land mines and endangered species like reporters.

-Mike

Typo’d from my iphone

I feel your pain! I really don't use Fleabay anymore. Too much trouble! It has become the worlds largest yard sale.

On another note, I have low-balled people with offers before but, only in extreme circumstances. Like someone selling an item for $500 when comparable items (or exactly the same) are selling for $100. When they say no, I like to look back on them 6-8 months later to see them still for sale. I always wonder how they can keep paying listing fees for the outrageous. :-\

O.K., not as serious as some of the recent topics, but I got to get off my chest. Why are people in eBay so freaking cheap.

I have so many stories. I $90 item that someone wants to pay $20 for and want you to pay the shipping on top of that. Come on really?

A four dollar item that someone wants to bargain you down to one dollar for! That one the guy actually called me an elitist jerk for not selling it to him.

And it doesn’t work the other way around. I have had people Send me offers and it specifically says on eBay didn’t offer does not include shipping. I had one guy who threatened up and down to give me horrible reviews if I didn’t give him free shipping because I never mention that in my reply offer to him.

I worked very hard to get 100 positive feedback.

One guy is going to ruin that.

Anyway rant over.

Let’s talk about the importance stuff like land mines and endangered species like reporters.

-Mike

Typo’d from my iphone

I feel your pain! I really don't use Fleabay anymore. Too much trouble! It has become the worlds largest yard sale.

On another note, I have low-balled people with offers before but, only in extreme circumstances. Like someone selling an item for $500 when comparable items (or exactly the same) are selling for $100. When they say no, I like to look back on them 6-8 months later to see them still for sale. I always wonder how they can keep paying listing fees for the outrageous. :-\

Most of mine were already fire sale cheap. The $90 item was a large Fstop photography backpack w/ insert. Well over $300 new and mine was in mint condition. Sure $20 bucks.

The $4 item was a mini wireless keyboard that I paid 15-20 bucks for new.

Definitely not overpriced and then to get upset w/ you, demand free shipping or threaten you with a bad review.

There is a Thai word, I can’t spell it, but phonetically it is kean-yow and is basically a cheap bastard that I usually mutter when I’m dealing with one of those people.

I wouldn't be surprised if the devices were all fakes and planted by Russian agents merely to stir up a little more political instability ahead of the midterm election. In other words, maybe these weren't intended to harm or even necessarily scare the targeted recipients. (I love a conspiracy theory. ;) )

I wouldn't be surprised if the devices were all fakes and planted by Russian agents merely to stir up a little more political instability ahead of the midterm election. In other words, maybe these weren't intended to harm or even necessarily scare the targeted recipients. (I love a conspiracy theory. ;) )

Apparently the analysis did show live explosives in them (at least the one sent to CNN), so "fake" is a relative term. Not a lot of info though, just "unidentified white powder" and "live explosives". The one sent to Soros was reported as containing a low explosive and shrapnel. Not the most sophisticated of designs, but it would do the job I suppose...

And just read some more detail on the one sent to CNN. Its... oh god its got a meme on it. A parody of an ISIS flag with "Get ER Done" on it. Ugh. https://twitter.com/elzosmid/status/1055234351368232960/photo/1

Some more info: The CNN bomb did contain low explosives.... BUT no blasting cap/detonator. Just wires running from a digital timer into the explosive, like they expected that to be enough. We have a very dumb bomb maker on our hands (not that the meme left any doubt to that).

Again, looking at the picture, notice the packing tape used to attach the labels? We've all attached labels to packages using packing tape...it invariably leaves perfect prints of our fingers in the tape! If this was the work of some lone bomber, they would easily have them in custody by now.

Fingerprinting doesn't really work that way I'm afraid. They may have some prints (assuming the sender didn't wear gloves) but that only helps if the sender was printed and is in a database somewhere. Also, not all prints can be OCR'd and digitized like you see on TV, quite often its down to someone trained in the field comparing them by eye and saying "yes these are similar" or "no they are not". Its not an overnight process.

How accurate is that picture? Because it looks like something straight out of the Mission Impossible movies.

Yep, I was US Army EOD for just under five years.

And, yeah, my first impression was "this looks like something a Hollywood prop department would come up with." That doesn't mean much, though; if you're a moron and you're going to make an IED, where are you going to get your design tips from? Likely, movies and TV. Memes (in the original 'Dawkins' sense of the word) guide these things over rational design far more than you think they would.

Apparently the analysis did show live explosives in them (at least the one sent to CNN), so "fake" is a relative term. Not a lot of info though, just "unidentified white powder" and "live explosives". The one sent to Soros was reported as containing a low explosive and shrapnel. Not the most sophisticated of designs, but it would do the job I suppose...

And just read some more detail on the one sent to CNN. Its... oh god its got a meme on it. A parody of an ISIS flag with "Get ER Done" on it. Ugh. https://twitter.com/elzosmid/status/1055234351368232960/photo/1

Some more info: The CNN bomb did contain low explosives.... BUT no blasting cap/detonator. Just wires running from a digital timer into the explosive, like they expected that to be enough. We have a very dumb bomb maker on our hands (not that the meme left any doubt to that).

While I haven't checked the news since I left for work this morning, I've heard a lot of conflicting information on if/what was filling these items as of last night (no explosives, gun powder, "pyrotechnic powder" (which is what's used in fireworks), "low-ordnance explosives" (not even a thing), etc). I'm not taking anything as gospel until I hear it from an FBI SABT. To date, the news coverage I've seen has been utter garbage.

Again, looking at the picture, notice the packing tape used to attach the labels? We've all attached labels to packages using packing tape...it invariably leaves perfect prints of our fingers in the tape! If this was the work of some lone bomber, they would easily have them in custody by now.

Fingerprinting doesn't really work that way I'm afraid. They may have some prints (assuming the sender didn't wear gloves) but that only helps if the sender was printed and is in a database somewhere. Also, not all prints can be OCR'd and digitized like you see on TV, quite often its down to someone trained in the field comparing them by eye and saying "yes these are similar" or "no they are not". Its not an overnight process.

1. This. Same with DNA evidence.2. I'd bet a case of beer the FBI has recovered either fingerprints or DNA from this and the other items. Likely both. Whoever did this is fucked when the FBI figures out who they are (and the FBI will figure out who they are).

As to the idea of the government doing this... lol, no.

EDIT: Just checked the ol' news feed and all the articles I see on this have clickbait and speculation in their headlines... didn't even waste my time on it.

It's cool to discuss current events but I will ask to keep away from any tribal type politics or talking about specific political parties. General statements and discussion are fine so long as it is approached with some detachment.

Good touch: I think healthcare is a right and should be guaranteed to every US citizen.Good touch 2: I'm upset about these recent attempted political assassinations and worried about the political discord in the US.

I've been guilty twice (by my count) of being too political in my postings to this thread. If I do it again, you have my permission to edit my post to make it look like I wrote, "I'd really like to mate with a hagfish." That should keep me in check, at least. :-X ;D

edit: Ok, I thought there was a study published showing a correlation between mental health state and number of stickers one ones car, but I can't find a link now, so my brain may have made it up. In exchange, here is a silly cat:

Someone has figured a way to get every single Toyota Camry (& Corolla) driver in the area to instantly pull in front of me and do 10-20kph below the speed limit. There's a conspiracy afoot, I tells you.

It's cool to discuss current events but I will ask to keep away from any tribal type politics or talking about specific political parties. General statements and discussion are fine so long as it is approached with some detachment.

Sorry that my comments crossed over into the more political realm. I have self-moderated them.

Halloween has never, ever been a thing in my town (and as far as I'm aware, the rest of NZ.) The only people I've ever seen get worked up about it are the shops (who will take any excuse to try and sell tatt you don't want), and religious groups who feel that it glorifies satanism.

Last night, I got a pair of kids in normal street clothes, and later on one brave little chap on his own, also in his civvies, trick or treating. They didn't get anything from me -- I don't normally have lollies in the house, they tend to get eaten -- but I did wonder how they got on. There's a houseful of nuns around the corner and down the block from me -- I wonder if they got an earful from them! (I did, once, when I was helping Mum with charity collection. You can't really get away with saying "no" to Mum for something like that. I got an earful about how they did good work for the community already, and how dare I knock and ask for money, etc etc...)

I think they were the first three kids I've had knock on my door for Halloween since I moved into this house, roughly four years ago, perhaps.

Took my kids (3 and 6) trick-or-treating this evening. At one house, there was a nice young couple who spoke with French accents. They were handing out unwrapped candy from a big bowl. Unwrapped candy is so out of place that it made us think/guess that this couple must be very new to the US traditions of Halloween (I didn't really know if there were US-specific traditions for this day....) but still wanted to take part and share. Made us smile.

(Occasionally, bulk candy repackaged in small bags is given out, but that is basically as close as you typically get to unwrapped candy.)

long ways from when I was a kid and you'd get baked goods, popcorn balls, etc from the elderly (clearly a generational issue) but even then I don't recall getting anything unwrapped. bearing in mind this was in very small town, very rural Kansas so there's no required anonymity available to hide behind should you intend to harm children with Halloween treats. Eventually you grew up, quit chasing candy, and moved into pranks and shenanigans.

The unwrapped candy saved my kids a step in eating it, so they were smiling as well. ;D

I think my kids collected half their own weight in candy. They were more into the activity than the candy itself, so they're happy to donate most of it. There are charities that put candy in care packages for overseas military personnel and disaster relief -- or something like that, anyway. A local restaurant/market collects candy in a "candy jail" and pays money to the bounty hunters who bring it in.

long ways from when I was a kid and you'd get baked goods, popcorn balls, etc from the elderly (clearly a generational issue) but even then I don't recall getting anything unwrapped. bearing in mind this was in very

Now I'm wondering. It's nearly always cheaper to bake a big batch of something, than it is to buy the same thing from the shops, depending on what you make (and what you can get from friends for either free, or at cost). So maybe the elderly did baked goods, etc, because it was easier on their retirement wallets?

that and the nearest store that would have carried bagged Halloween candy back then was 10 miles or more away. In thinking on this more, I got a lot more small individual hard candies back then too ... root beer barrels, butterscotch discs, those peanut butter taffy abortions, because the local store carried those in bulk. As for the pocketbook aspect, I suppose so in some cases and in others it was definitely tradition for them to make something.

In thinking on this more, I got a lot more small individual hard candies back then too ... root beer barrels, butterscotch discs, those peanut butter taffy abortions, because the local store carried those in bulk.

Yep, I remember getting tons of that stuff as a kid. I also remember occasionally getting candy cigarettes and bubblegum cigarettes in little boxes meant to look kind of like the real thing. If you blew a puff of air through the bubblegum cigarettes, a little cloud of cornstarch would come out, mimicking smoke. :o(https://shrivers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/candystix.png)(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7838632874_44638be2ce.jpg)So wrong.

Didn't see any bulk wrapped candy this year at all. Also didn't see a single roll of Smarties. But, my observations may be skewed by my kids being allowed to choose their candy at almost every house.

This one time, going back to the mid 90's, some feral kids in no costume at all came by my house and demanded "TRICK OR TREAT!". I told them to go away as this is Australia and they weren't even in costume. I went back inside and found that I felt I had been a little mean and out of line.

So I went to the kitchen and found something I could give them. It turned out that they were still hanging around my front gate so I said, "Hey guys, here you go," and gave them a packet of extra hot 2 minute noodles.

Halloween has never been part of the Netherlands, but the constant onslaught of American TV shows, together with shops trying to ram anything down our throats that they think will generate more revenue we see more and more Halloween things happening here. I reckon the tactic works as they managed to ram American christmas down our throats as well.

Halloween has never been part of the Netherlands, but the constant onslaught of American TV shows, together with shops trying to ram anything down our throats that they think will generate more revenue we see more and more Halloween things happening here. I reckon the tactic works as they managed to ram American christmas down our throats as well.

Halloween has never been part of the Netherlands, but the constant onslaught of American TV shows, together with shops trying to ram anything down our throats that they think will generate more revenue we see more and more Halloween things happening here. I reckon the tactic works as they managed to ram American christmas down our throats as well.

Have a problem with Americans?

I doubt that was his intention. I can only speak for Austria, but when I was little, the "christkind" brought all the gifts. Basically it's baby Jesus. the Nikolaus brings some chocolate, nuts and stuff on december 6th. He's similar in some aspects to the visual appearance of Santa.However, these days, Santa can be seen on TV, on adds and on christmas decorations. It's not part of our tradition at all and children still believe in the christkind rather than Santa Claus. nevertheless, it's kind of part of the deal already as you can just find santa everywhere driven by advertising, media and economy.Just my 2 cents obviously.

Had this crazy idea yesterday... This is how far I got. An ISO booth for my guitar cabs! Mdf, foam and blankets, playing mic'ed with headphones. Good treble attenuation, but the lower frequencies still come through, so more work to be done. Makes it more bearable for the family when dad feels like rockin out loud!

That is definitely not what Muadzin was typing (as can be seen clearly when reading his post). He's not saying Americans are ramming these things down our throats. It's local (so Dutch) commercial interests that import American traditions to make more money. I agree with Muadzin wholeheartedly. There is a Dutch variant of Halloween (called Sint Maarten, something for the Catholic part of the country, not so much in the rest). Halloween is American. It's an attempt to make more money by stripping it from its religious roots and disguised as a 'fun thing for children'. Last year I noticed a lot of Dutch online retailers suddenly having a Black Friday sale. Celebrating Thanksgiving makes no sense here, but Black Friday? Sure let's try to sell more crap.

To find where you go to vote - https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/

And if they turn you away for some reason (not on the list, whatever) you still have the legal right to ask for a Provisional Ballot. It still counts, it will just stay in limbo till they get the paperwork sorted.

(Oh and if you're in Texas, be careful. Choosing "Straight ticket" on the machine may not actually work, so review the choices before submitting. People who didn't mean to were accidentally voting for Ted Cruz, for example)

And, if you have children, bring them with you to your polling place. I got to jump to the front of the very long line because I had my 3-year-old with me (one of the election officials was personally escorting all parents with "Future Voters" through the crowd). And, free stickers! ;D

If you're taking a package to the post office to ship, following these helpful suggestions before you get there should speed your trip and the trip of everyone else waiting in line:

Put your ******* ship to address on the boxPut your ******* return address on the boxKnow what you ******* put in the box, it isn't a game of 20 questions with the clerk to find out what prohibited items you have insideBring enough ******* currency to pay for your shipping, they don't accept baggies of meth as paymentSeal your ******* box with tape

while being informed should improve the quality of the result, there's a more serious lack of quantity that makes any result less representative.

Do we really need this guy's (https://www.wokv.com/news/local/watch-man-crocs-jumps-into-crocodile-pit-augustine-alligator-farm/o7oPVTM1V07wiCyOOEBtkK/) representation?

(tl;dr, Florida Man broke into a crocodile park, jumped in with the crocodiles, was bit, got out, then jumped in again.)

Frankly, I'm far more concerned with the quality of the candidates than how many people decide to vote for them and lately the two major parties in the US seem more concerned with serving shit sandwiches than they are with fielding high caliber candidates.

Halloween has never been part of the Netherlands, but the constant onslaught of American TV shows, together with shops trying to ram anything down our throats that they think will generate more revenue we see more and more Halloween things happening here. I reckon the tactic works as they managed to ram American christmas down our throats as well.

Have a problem with Americans?

Only with Dutch retailers ramming American valentine's day, halloween and christmass traditions down our throats so they can sell more stuff. Going to foreign places to see strange new cool things and tradition is an awesome thing. To see them get imported and even replace local traditions just so they make a quick buck, not so much.

Everyone's version of "informed" is different. For some people, that's playing team politics because they've decided that enough of their personal beliefs are tied to the goals of a particular party. For some people it's researching every candidate and calling the office of the judges in the city to demand their political orientation if they want a vote. For some people it's voting against incumbents out of principle.

NPR had interviews with people from [a state] today. One of them said that her vote was based on her kids losing their freedom to "do what they want" if a particular party's candidate were in office, and then she said that she was voting for the same party because she wanted them to prevent [certain minority group] from enjoying [a particular institution] because she doesn't approve of their lifestyle, with zero indication that she understood that she was, essentially, saying that she wanted freedom only for her kids and not someone else's.

I bet that person thinks they're informed, but their level of introspection makes them sound, to me, about on par with the species of FloridaMan you posted. But they should absolutely be allowed to cast their vote.

it is easy to throw Florida Man out there as your ad absurdum argument ... I'll offer a counter. It is generally accepted both inside and outside of America that the country's education system is in decline and has been for some time. If being informed is your yardstick, one could argue that there's a systematic quality issue regarding the conversion of raw data into information due to a decline in the quality of the education that is meant to sharpen your ability to apply critical thinking to any given problem. One side calls it alternative facts, the other calls it fake news. If this poor quality of information is to be turned into wisdom to be applied at the polls the results may well be better off in the hands of a bunch of well-meaning idiots rather than fools convinced they are right. The idiots won't know why the clock is broken but the fools will insist the time is always half past three.

However when you look at the percentages of Americans who can't name all three branches of government (or even one branch), tell you how the government works (and forget about the Liberal (in the John Locke sense of the word) principals the Constitution and Bill of Rights were written under), I think it's clear that there's a fundamental problem here.

NPR had interviews with people from [a state] today. One of them said that her vote was based on her kids losing their freedom to "do what they want" if a particular party's candidate were in office, and then she said that she was voting for the same party because she wanted them to prevent [certain minority group] from enjoying [a particular institution] because she doesn't approve of their lifestyle, with zero indication that she understood that she was, essentially, saying that she wanted freedom only for her kids and not someone else's.

I bet that person thinks they're informed, but their level of introspection makes them sound, to me, about on par with the species of FloridaMan you posted.

I agree on the grounds that the law is what it is today and we must follow the law.

However, the more history I read, the more I think that if not quite on the exact correct path, the Framers of the US Constitution and thinkers like Heinlen were headed in the right general direction.

What exactly the best path is? I don't know.

EDIT: And regardless of what the 'perfect' answer might be, it could be possible that there's no just way for us to arrive at that answer now and we need to figure out how to make the best of the status quo by working out carrots to encourage more voters to know who they're voting for and why.

That being said, I don't think "even if you don't know what you're doing, just go out and vote for for somebody!" is a constructive approach to this debate. Not saying anyone here is advancing that idea, but I've definitely seen it multiple times on social media today.

it is easy to throw Florida Man out there as your ad absurdum argument ... I'll offer a counter. It is generally accepted both inside and outside of America that the country's education system is in decline and has been for some time. If being informed is your yardstick, one could argue that there's a systematic quality issue regarding the conversion of raw data into information due to a decline in the quality of the education that is meant to sharpen your ability to apply critical thinking to any given problem. One side calls it alternative facts, the other calls it fake news.

I've argued for a long time now that our education system needs to do significantly better on teaching civics and critical thinking .

If this poor quality of information is to be turned into wisdom to be applied at the polls the results may well be better off in the hands of a bunch of well-meaning idiots rather than fools convinced they are right. The idiots won't know why the clock is broken but the fools will insist the time is always half past three.

If what I saw in combat is any indication, it's actually (at least in the short term) better to take a single course of action and with a purpose than it is for everyone to mill around aimlessly as individuals. The fools are right twice a day, even if by accident; the random gaggle is (in aggregate) always wrong.

it is easy to throw Florida Man out there as your ad absurdum argument ... I'll offer a counter. It is generally accepted both inside and outside of America that the country's education system is in decline and has been for some time. If being informed is your yardstick, one could argue that there's a systematic quality issue regarding the conversion of raw data into information due to a decline in the quality of the education that is meant to sharpen your ability to apply critical thinking to any given problem. One side calls it alternative facts, the other calls it fake news.

I've argued for a long time now that our education system needs to do significantly better on teaching civics and critical thinking .

If this poor quality of information is to be turned into wisdom to be applied at the polls the results may well be better off in the hands of a bunch of well-meaning idiots rather than fools convinced they are right. The idiots won't know why the clock is broken but the fools will insist the time is always half past three.

If what I saw in combat is any indication, it's actually (at least in the short term) better to take a single course of action and with a purpose than it is for everyone to mill around aimlessly as individuals. The fools are right twice a day, even if by accident; the random gaggle is (in aggregate) always wrong.

Just curious, but do either of you know anyone who has taken a government or civics class in the past 5-10 years? Growing up in the nineties I went to what was considered a great high school. Now I teach at what’s considered an okay school (on the low side for this area) and the kids are getting a much better education than I did. I know it’s not true a everywhere, but I take some issue with the argument that the quality of education is declining. School is certainly different than it was when I was a student but I’m not sure it’s worse.

And everybody gets to vote regardless of how “informed” they are and there is nothing wrong with that concept. Would I encourage everyone to make sure they understand what they’re voting for? Sure, I encourage that, but I wouldn’t expect or require them to.

We're not arguing about politics, we're arguing about the mechanisms of politics. There's a difference.

The bottom line is that the right to vote extends equally to (nearly) all persons under the law. An individual is and ought to be the sole arbiter of their choice to exercise that vote. The mere suggestion that a person should self-select not to exercise their rights based on another person's criteria for them being "qualified" is highly dangerous. The idea is also, whether Frag realizes it or not, related to an exceptionally ugly history of denying people the vote ("literacy" tests). I would also argue that it is almost certainly anathema to almost every political affiliation: Conservatives and libertarians should be put off by something that would supercede the primacy of the individual's rights. Liberals and progressives should be off-put by a powerful group enforcing or coercing weaker groups (including "idiots") from exercising their fundamental rights.

And from a purely intellectual standpoint, the possibility that you are ruled by "idiots" should discourage you, as a society, from producing enough "idiots" that they form the majority. If you block the "idiots" from voting, they're still around, but now they're mad at you because you aren't listening to them.

I know it probably seems like I'm picking on Frag here about an off-hand comment, but I really think there's something important to discuss behind it. I know for a fact Frag doesn't feel the same way about other fundamental rights based on what he's written here in the past.

By the way, college students seem just about the same to me now as they did in 2002 the first time around, except they're all nicer to each other and seem less likely to blow off their coursework overall.

It's cool to discuss current events but I will ask to keep away from any tribal type politics or talking about specific political parties. General statements and discussion are fine so long as it is approached with some detachment.

I agree on the grounds that the law is what it is today and we must follow the law.

However, the more history I read, the more I think that if not quite on the exact correct path, the Framers of the US Constitution and thinkers like Heinlen were headed in the right general direction.

...

That being said, I don't think "even if you don't know what you're doing, just go out and vote for for somebody!" is a constructive approach to this debate. Not saying anyone here is advancing that idea, but I've definitely seen it multiple times on social media today.

The USA was founded on the concept that Everyone gets a say in the future path of their existence just by existing.... which was not the way things were before.

From the Declaration of Independence:"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — "

A quick thought experiment...

Let's say that a party in power of a government decides that saying something "idiotic" will revoke your right to vote... especially in a public manner. They have determined that Frag has said something of this kind and his right to vote has been revoked... He can never vote again for any reason. Is that fair? How does that make you feel?

Point being...That is what led to the founding of this country, so let's not forget how things used to be even though we have never directly experienced it ourselves.

Btw, I like a lot of Heinlien's ideas and concepts but the whole idea that "you have to serve to vote" is flawed in my opinion. I know Switzerland has a system like that but I'm not familiar enough with it to comment or compare.

In 2000 I was in a covers band touring schools, we had an unforgettable incident in Auckland. My friend (who shall remain unnamed) the singer had gotten the mic stuck in the clip, we were halfway into the intro of 'Why cant we be friends' version by Smashmouth. The singer was anxiously yanking the mic, when it suddenly came free and he literally put the SM58 through his front teeth! An absolute pro, he sings on. I remember the faces of the kids in the front row screwing up in a mixture of disgust and wonder, when my friend turned around I saw he had blood streaming down his chin, it was straight out of Alice Cooper etc. The irony...(Song by Smashmouth!) Teeth got fixed, but it remains probably the best tale from the tour. ;D

I don't know why, but I was thinking of _King Solomon's Mines_, and _Allan Quatermain_, by H. Rider Haggard, at work today. The 19th century adventure novels :)

Sean Connery played Quatermain in _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_, and I feel that it was a mistake. For one, his accent always sticks out like a bull in a pumpkin patch, and for two, Connery (who used to be a bouncer, IIRC) is too tall and solidly built. Quatermain was always described as short and wiry, with a thin face. Quatermain's skill at hunting, and his personality and charisma, is what carried him in the books.

Depending on accent (this is always a bit of a bugger in movies), someone looking like David Carradine or Daniel Day-Lewis might work well, if they were short and thin.

I don't know why, but I was thinking of _King Solomon's Mines_, and _Allan Quatermain_, by H. Rider Haggard, at work today. The 19th century adventure novels :)

Sean Connery played Quatermain in _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_, and I feel that it was a mistake. For one, his accent always sticks out like a bull in a pumpkin patch, and for two, Connery (who used to be a bouncer, IIRC) is too tall and solidly built. Quatermain was always described as short and wiry, with a thin face. Quatermain's skill at hunting, and his personality and charisma, is what carried him in the books.

Depending on accent (this is always a bit of a bugger in movies), someone looking like David Carradine or Daniel Day-Lewis might work well, if they were short and thin.

I don't think I've ever seen a film adaptation of Quatermain (from any of his stories) that have put a massive, boy-like grin on my face.

You should see the Quartermain movies they made in the mid-80s. BLATANT Indiana Jones rip offs, with a fraction of the budget, and a fraction of the charisma. Also Qartermain is played by a very gay man, who cast his husband (partner, whatever) as Quartermain's brother in the second one. Which is a little weird.

I've read and thoroughly enjoyed many of H. Rider Haggard's novels, and I'd highly recommend them, with the following disclaimers:

The historical context of his work gives an insight into the age of British Imperialism. There is a lot of casual racism in the books. The n-word only appears in one book that I remember, as part of a brief lecture-like thought by Quatermain regarding how he detests the use of such a term and knows many white people more worthy of such a hateful label. Some derrogatory labels are used, however, for various people (for some Africans and also the Dutch), but there is not really much malice intended in their use. Africans are never treated as mindless savages in his novels, although there are occasionally some cruel tribal chiefs whose characters are somewhat underdeveloped.

There are seemingly unlimited numbers of elephants slaughtered solely for their ivory, and on rare occasion, for their hearts if custom dictates or hunger necessitates. There are even several instances where hunting trips produce more ivory than could be carried (sort of like a hunting trip in the computer game Oregon Trail where you could hold down the spacebar and one of the cursor keys, spraying endless bullets into a dozen or more animals before abandoning over 1000 pounds of meat ::)).

Most of Haggard's works are public domain can be freely downloaded. I'd recommend starting with King Solomon's Mines. It created the entire "lost world" adventure genre. In a way, although the movies (the 1980s ones) may have copied Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones copied Quatermain first. ;D

I don't know why, but I was thinking of _King Solomon's Mines_, and _Allan Quatermain_, by H. Rider Haggard, at work today. The 19th century adventure novels :)

Sean Connery played Quatermain in _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_, and I feel that it was a mistake. For one, his accent always sticks out like a bull in a pumpkin patch, and for two, Connery (who used to be a bouncer, IIRC) is too tall and solidly built. Quatermain was always described as short and wiry, with a thin face. Quatermain's skill at hunting, and his personality and charisma, is what carried him in the books.

Depending on accent (this is always a bit of a bugger in movies), someone looking like David Carradine or Daniel Day-Lewis might work well, if they were short and thin.

I don't think I've ever seen a film adaptation of Quatermain (from any of his stories) that have put a massive, boy-like grin on my face.

As if anyone still reads books these days to notice that Connery was too long. Also that movie suffered from far bigger problems then just Connery's height. How about lack of anything resembling a decent plot?

The Hollywood lore is that Jackson wanted Connery to play Gandalf in the LOTR films. He told them he was retired and wouldn’t do it. Then after seeing how huge those movies got he felt like he made a huge mistake, someone offered him the part in LOEG and made I sound like it would be the next huge LOTR like hit. he jumped on it in hopes it would be a huge movie. As I recall they also paid him a shit ton of money to do the part.

As far as I remember it’s the last film he’s done and he didn’t do much after the mid-nineties.

If you're taking a package to the post office to ship, following these helpful suggestions before you get there should speed your trip and the trip of everyone else waiting in line:

On a semi-related note, does anyone else find that, when you're waiting in line at the supermarket or wherever, no matter how much you scrutinize the various queues for potential timewasters before queuing up, you always wind up behind:

That old guy from the eighteen hundreds who uses a checkbook... if you're very, very lucky, the person at the till will know what to do with these archaic clay tablets, otherwise you're in for an even longer wait than that.

That person with a hundred different things, who wants them put through in five different lots, and pays for each lot separately

That person with three dozen different types of produce, all of which have to be separately weighed before they can be put into the computer

That person who wants to pay cash (and not the quick, hand over a fifty and get their change back, quick-like, but someone who slowly works out the exact notes and coins to hand over)

That person who wants a pack of fags which, naturally, are not in the unmarked cabinet the worker has in their little stand, which means that everything is put on hold while they go for walkies and look for that brand of fags in another till area

That person who, you think, only wants to buy a case of beer, but engages in a long, lengthy discussion about the different kind of rubbish collection stickers the shop carries, the benefits and drawbacks of each sticker, how much each one costs versus how much rubbish the rubbish truck is prepared to take for one of those stickers, etc

That person who, you think, only wants to buy a case of beer, but engages in a long, lengthy discussion about the different kind of rubbish collection stickers the shop carries, the benefits and drawbacks of each sticker, how much each one costs versus how much rubbish the rubbish truck is prepared to take for one of those stickers, etc

I tend to consider myself a fairly worldly fellow, but I have no idea what this is referring to. You need to buy stickers for garbage collection?

On a semi-related note, does anyone else find that, when you're waiting in line at the supermarket or wherever, no matter how much you scrutinize the various queues for potential timewasters before queuing up, you always wind up behind:

That old guy from the eighteen hundreds who uses a checkbook... if you're very, very lucky, the person at the till will know what to do with these archaic clay tablets, otherwise you're in for an even longer wait than that.

That person with a hundred different things, who wants them put through in five different lots, and pays for each lot separately

That person with three dozen different types of produce, all of which have to be separately weighed before they can be put into the computer

That person who wants to pay cash (and not the quick, hand over a fifty and get their change back, quick-like, but someone who slowly works out the exact notes and coins to hand over)

That person who wants a pack of fags which, naturally, are not in the unmarked cabinet the worker has in their little stand, which means that everything is put on hold while they go for walkies and look for that brand of fags in another till area

That person who, you think, only wants to buy a case of beer, but engages in a long, lengthy discussion about the different kind of rubbish collection stickers the shop carries, the benefits and drawbacks of each sticker, how much each one costs versus how much rubbish the rubbish truck is prepared to take for one of those stickers, etc

I'm sure that you all can add to this list.

Always avoid old people. Nothing but respect for our senior citizens who built up our country, but as a rule of thumb you're better off not behind one in the checkout line, they tend to be slower and not so technologically savvy. Thankfully, more and more supermarkets here have no cash PIN only lines, that old people and those who insist on using cash avoid like the plague. So their checkout lines are usually the shortest and fastest. Even better are the self checkout facilities so you avoid the lines altogether. But in case you still have to, avoid lines with elderly (for obvious reasons), mothers with children with lots of stuff in their cart (their attention gets divided between paying, packing their groceries and their kids), and always, always when the lines are long, keep an eye on which cash register is most likely to open next and chose that line. Nothing more disheartening then having to endure a long wait only to see a new register open which is too far away from you to beat the rest of the mob.

And beware of German owned supermarkets, and supermarkets in Germany in general. For some strange reason German grundlichkeit does not seem to apply to maintaining as many open registers for their customers as possible, but as few as they can get away with.

Bought online and had a package shipped from North Carolina. Quick shipping (seller was awesome!) and in 2 days the package arrived at my local distribution center (DC) this is where it went haywire....Apparently, DC felt the need to send it to the Manassas VA distribution center. Then, they felt the need to send it to the Woodbridge VA distribution center. Then, they decided to send it back to the DC distribution center. So... a package that I ordered on Monday and should have had on Wednesday.... is now STILL in the system and I might get it a week later (if they decide NOT to re-route it ...AGAIN!!)

I tend to consider myself a fairly worldly fellow, but I have no idea what this is referring to. You need to buy stickers for garbage collection?

In New Zealand, yeah. You either hire a wheelie bin and put that on the kerb once a week (or fortnightly, depending on the contract), or buy a rubbish sticker, put the sticker on your bag o' trash, and put that on the kerb for pickup.

And beware of German owned supermarkets, and supermarkets in Germany in general. For some strange reason German grundlichkeit does not seem to apply to maintaining as many open registers for their customers as possible, but as few as they can get away with.

Don't get behind me in the self checkout line of a European supermarket! I will have managed to screw up pre-weighing my produce at the separate weigh station, cause a nuisance because I'm trying to buy wine and need to be ID'ed or it's the wrong day or God only knows what, and generally fail to understand what is going on even though I nominally speak a little bit of the language. I'm better off taking my chances with the cashier and only half-understanding the conversation.

Also, after being conditioned (by Germany and maybe Italy) that shops, restaurants etc prefer cash and paying with a credit card is a big production that you only pull out at the department store, I was then a bit stunned to find out that it's not unusual for shops in the Netherlands to be cash-free. Is this really a major cultural difference between the countries or more a rapidly evolving generational thing?

New Zealand has the EFT-POS system, effectively debit cards. (Electronic Fund Transaction at Point Of Sale.) Each card has a four digit PIN number, making it a lot safer than the average credit card (which, AFAIK, you can just slide and done. It's one reason I don't want to get one of those PayWave cards, too easy for someone to abuse with no PIN needed.)

If a shop doesn't have EFT-POS, it's going to be because it's either a very, very small-timey business, or because they don't have a phone line for the EFT-POS machine. Even pizza delivery boys have it, these days.

People do pay in cash as well, but it's increasingly rare for people to carry cash. With EFT-POS, you're not carrying around tempting amounts of money for someone to take off you, and even if they do steal your card, they will still need your PIN. (Scammers can find out your pin through various nefarious means, but it means that there is another hoop for them to jump through.)

In New Zealand, yeah. You either hire a wheelie bin and put that on the kerb once a week (or fortnightly, depending on the contract), or buy a rubbish sticker, put the sticker on your bag o' trash, and put that on the kerb for pickup.

In the Netherlands its up to the local governments to decide. Here in Nijmegen you have to buy green garbage bags which cost like a Euro a piece, but you can put all your plastic and metal cans into free see through bags. And paper gets picked up once a month, so the green bags only get used for leftover rubbish. But my friend who lives in a neighboring town he has to use a wheelie bin and pays for each emptying. And has grown very adept at dumping his trash in public trash cans wherever he finds them. And some people just refuse to pay for anything and dump their trash alongside the road. Which I see a lot.

The idea that you can force people to separate their trash and make those who produce the most pay more in practice always collides with human stubbornness and creativity. Some people don't like being forced, nor to pay more.

Don't get behind me in the self checkout line of a European supermarket! I will have managed to screw up pre-weighing my produce at the separate weigh station, cause a nuisance because I'm trying to buy wine and need to be ID'ed or it's the wrong day or God only knows what, and generally fail to understand what is going on even though I nominally speak a little bit of the language. I'm better off taking my chances with the cashier and only half-understanding the conversation.

Also, after being conditioned (by Germany and maybe Italy) that shops, restaurants etc prefer cash and paying with a credit card is a big production that you only pull out at the department store, I was then a bit stunned to find out that it's not unusual for shops in the Netherlands to be cash-free. Is this really a major cultural difference between the countries or more a rapidly evolving generational thing?

Nobody uses credit cards over here to do grocery shopping. Methinks that's the equivalent of the elderly person wanting to pay with a signed check. It's all regular bank PIN transactions here. Which is why many shops opt to go cash free. We're used to paying PIN early on, you can even do it nowadays by just holding the card close to the reader. I hardly ever use any cash any more. And for some stores it has the advantage of there no longer being any cash in the place that would attract criminals. As our city centers are full of cameras, shops, restaurants and gas stations outside of the city center have seen more and more attempts of armed robbery. Criminals will go where they can still get cash money. Which is why I think the elderly will the ones that will get targeted the most. Not only are they the most vulnerable, they're also the ones more likely to still have cash money in their possession.

As for the Netherlands differing from Germany in this regard, the Germans seem more traditional when it comes to money. Maybe its because of the hyper inflation thing they had after World War 1? They're only now thinking about getting rid of their 1 and 2 cents coins and rounding up or down on transactions. In the Netherlands we've been doing that for as long as I can remember. I can't remember ever having seen a 1 cent coin when we still had our own currency. We got them back when we switched to the Euro but they quickly disappeared again. If you still get one chances are you get one that was coined in Germany and that person did some shopping in Germany.

Here in my part of the US, we pay a monthly fee for weekly trash pick ups, one bin garbage, one bin mixed recyclables. The bins hold up to 75lbs (34kg), and what recycling can go in varies from pickup company to pickup company.

The city i live in Canada we have three streams of trash pick-up. An organics "Green" bin for food wastes & garden waste which you can augment with other designated bins/cans or heavy duty paper bags, no limit on the amount you can put out. Blue bin for recyclables, again no limit, finally a trash can/bag, limited per household to one unit per week and limited by weight to 23k/50lbs. You also get 12 tags per year to apply to an extra garbage can/bag(s) that may have accumulated on occasion.

FFS I should not have to police members of my project groups in their senior year about not just copying code off the internet without citing their sources.

Number of CS classes this semester that have even mentioned the word plagiarism in class: 0. Number this year (running total): 1.

On the other hand:Number of teachers who have complained about students plagiarizing their homework: 3.

I've gotten lucky, I didn't have to report any of my students for plagiarism this semester (I teach a second semester general bio lab). Worst I've had is someone nearly copying a methods section from a paper, bad enough for a "direct quotation" penalty, but not a deans visit.

Then again, I should say "not yet anyway", still 2 major assignments for them to turn in before the end. Some of the other lab teachers have had to bring the hammer down, and I really don't want to deal with that paperwork headache.

Bought online and had a package shipped from North Carolina. Quick shipping (seller was awesome!) and in 2 days the package arrived at my local distribution center (DC) this is where it went haywire....Apparently, DC felt the need to send it to the Manassas VA distribution center. Then, they felt the need to send it to the Woodbridge VA distribution center. Then, they decided to send it back to the DC distribution center. So... a package that I ordered on Monday and should have had on Wednesday.... is now STILL in the system and I might get it a week later (if they decide NOT to re-route it ...AGAIN!!)

Ugggg.... ::)

They do a great job making sure that junk mail arrives on time and unscathed. I've never missed a single Xfinity ad or coupon to get my gutters cleaned!

It has to be hard combating source code plagiarism with sites like stackoverflow out there, not to mention the "I'll do your homework for you" sites. Over the years, I've looked at other people's code for inspiration on a different approach or maybe an edge case I didn't consider(professional work or hobby, not school work), but to just hand in identical work? that would have to be a referral for academic misconduct. I once got the results of a python project back that had what they considered to be a less than 100% yet still acceptable level of originality and I was scratching my head trying to figure out exactly how original a student-level project is supposed to be? there's only so many ways you've been instructed on how to carry out the task.

If they go on to work in a programming job, a lot of their time will be just looking up how someone else has done it on Stack Overflow. Or downloading someone else's GitHub example.

Which makes it difficult - a lot of the teaching is based on making individuals do their own 'original' work, but in reality 90% of a lot of jobs in the industry is knowing where to copy/paste from.

(I work as a software engineer, and have also worked in computer science dept at a Uni, so that's where my opinion is coming from)

The point of most school projects is to reinvent the wheel. You do this in every discipline."Write a sonnet.""Calculate the area of a circle using an integral.""Dissect this frog."

My problem with my group members was them not citing their code, though I was also disappointed that she didn't just write the code for something as simple as a stack, because this also means I am reluctant to trust her to do something more complicated on the project. I'm also not talking about copying a Function to Do The Thing or an algorithm.

If the industry tolerates using someone else's work without citation doesn't mean it's not plagiarism, but most people don't enjoy trying to figure out a difficult piece of code that was explained at some link that could have been put in a damn comment.

And you wouldn't wholesale download the source code for some software and try to pass it off as your own since that's a good way to get sued. Downloading a previous student's code off of git hub is the most blatant form of cheating.

I look up how to do simple programming tasks on stack overflow all the time (partly because I have to proficient in more than one language and get the methodology of simple things confused, plus python2 -> 3, etc). However, it's because I have years of programming experience that I can translate the stack overflow answers into an efficient application to my problem. If one only copies, one won't learn nearly as much. This is the essence of homework - by definition, you're doing something that has already been solved, somewhere. That may be tedious at times but it's necessary for practice, like playing scales, or building a Fuzz Face before you tackle a Lovetone.

So, Update to plagiarism in the Bio class I teach. Turns out, I did have someone submit a copy for their last lab report.

But they did so in such a blindingly stupid way that they almost got away with it.

See, we use an online drop box for submissions, and it has automated similarity checking. Its not very "smart" but it spits out a similarity percent score, and typically anything less than ~25% or so is fine (as you end up "copying" common lab jargon and works cited and whatnot). Anything in the 30-40% range I tend to manually scan to see if anything is hinky (not uncommon when we used shared data sets and they just copy/paste them straight in), and higher than that we usually have people copying/sharing whole sections.

Well, I had one student who had an 18% similarity score on their paper. I didn't even bother opening it to scrutinize, just treated it as clean and moved on to grading things (he's near the bottom of the pile). Today I get a call from my lab director telling me to take a closer look. Turns out, he submitted another students paper, word. for. word.

As in, he didn't even bother putting his own fecking name on the thing.

But because he submitted it first, his was treated as the "original" and the student who ACTUALLY wrote the thing got flagged with a 100% similarity score. Now 100%'s are normal when both partners submit the same paper, but these two don't even have lab on the same day, let alone the same section.

I like to think that I'm awake enough that I would have noticed Luis had signed his work "Victoria" when I eventually got to his, but there is a chance I might have missed it, and if that had happened, he would've gotten a pass.

I'm honestly a little flabbergasted. Dude's never been a top student, and his normal partner had asked to work alone on this particular assignment (not uncommon), but I hadn't expected the guy to straight up pull a "dis is mine". Its... really really stupid.

and his normal partner had asked to work alone on this particular assignment (not uncommon)

Ask his normal partner if cheatyface ever did any of the work on previous assignments.

I know shes the better student overall, but for now I've just kicked the case upstairs. My boss is the one who has to give the "you're getting a zero on this paper that is worth 12.5% of your overall grade and you have to write an apology to the dean" conversation.

My policy (written on my syllabus) was to divide the grade equally between the two copied reports (i.e., 100% would become 50% for each of them). I still got some thesaurus-style copying ("We measured the voltage" became "We determined the voltage") and some passive-voice, somewhat Yoda-like in its repetition, reordered copying. I couldn't blame them too much. It was tedious stuff that didn't really effectively assess writing skills anyway.

I read something more than a decade ago that still sticks with me. The essay was on the Coyote, and the Roadrunner.

More specifically, it was about which one a person identified most with.

An example of a Roadrunner type was a hippy -- happy, zipping through life, not like some droopy-nosed sourpuss old politician.

Personally, I've always cheered on the Coyote. Stubborn, doesn't give up, will one day *GET* that smart-arse, better-than-thou Roadrunner. Plus the Coyote is like the patron saint of mad garage inventors.

Everybody likes the Coyote. He at least has character. The Roadrunner has no personality other then being a smart ass. At least with Tom & Jerry they alternated roles. Sometimes Tom was the smart ass, sometimes Jerry. You could root either way. The Roadrunner was always the same.

Everybody likes the Coyote. He at least has character. The Roadrunner has no personality other then being a smart ass. At least with Tom & Jerry they alternated roles. Sometimes Tom was the smart ass, sometimes Jerry. You could root either way. The Roadrunner was always the same.

I always wanted Road Runner to die. Coyote's ingenuity and persistence was crying out for a reward that never came. It's an injustice

Everybody likes the Coyote. He at least has character. The Roadrunner has no personality other then being a smart ass. At least with Tom & Jerry they alternated roles. Sometimes Tom was the smart ass, sometimes Jerry. You could root either way. The Roadrunner was always the same.

As someone who lives with real coyotes and real roadrunners....

Roadrunners are adorable little goofballs that make you smile. Coyotes kill your pets and rummage through garbage cans. Also, coyotes never shut up at night and it gets a little annoying sometimes.....

Roadrunners are adorable little goofballs that make you smile. Coyotes kill your pets and rummage through garbage cans. Also, coyotes never shut up at night and it gets a little annoying sometimes.....

Are you seriously going to nitpick over some cartoon characters? ;D :P

Cause in that vein Tom is always the good guy and Jerry the bad guy, cause cats are awesome, period! And mice are always vermin to be exterminated.

For years, my wife has made fun of me for pronouncing Dawn and Don exactly the same. I have recently, however, found out that I am not alone, and this pronunciation is a product of my Western Pennsylvania (sub)dialect*. Nor is it unique to my dialect. People from places near the green dots on this map tend to do the same thing:(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Cot-caught_merger.png/614px-Cot-caught_merger.png)

This language feature even has a name. It is called the cot-caught merger. I feel so validated!

Next, I need to figure out if I am the only person who insists that "whirl" and "swirl" are two-syllable words. :P

*I am tempted to refer to it as a subdialect because it differs even within my immediate family.

I live in So. East Pennsylvania now (for 15 years): Water: My wife says, "woder", I say, "wotter".I get a lot laughs for this one: When I say, "roof" it sounds closer to "rough". Out here in PA it is clearly "roooof", like Babe "Ruth". Oddly, when I sing the Drifters "Up on the Roof", I pronounce it "correctly".

Another interesting regional difference: "yeah" is very short in the West (yeh), out here East it's clearly "y-e-a-a-uh" :D

While I was watching this, I was thinking two things. Firstly, thank gawd I never got into automechanics (beyond liking the actual driving part and appreciating pretty cars), and secondly...

Is this how Dad feels, watching me work on computer hardware?

I liken this engine rebuild to my recent acquisition of a powerpc g5 isight imac ... so completely impractical. I think the original small block hemi like that only got horsepower in the high 100s to 300 hp range ... and there's generally a lack of aftermarket performance parts (hence the custom-welded intake plenum) ... its cool to see it done, but it would be completely forgivable to go with a later model mopar engine just for the horsepower and parts availability.

I liken this engine rebuild to my recent acquisition of a powerpc g5 isight imac ... so completely impractical.

PPC macs are where it's at 8) I have a couple of Powermacs G4 and G5. The G4 is set up with OS/9 if you want impractical :)

my wife was like "why?" and the best I could muster was that it was one of the few oddball platforms I haven't owned ... POWER, MIPS, SPARC ... had those ... only thing left now is alpha ... and I'm not in the market. if this wasn't a flatscreen all-in-one I would have passed. I just don't have the room for a collection anymore.

The two machines I haven't got that I want are the Sharp X68000, a Japan only beast of a machine from back in the day. Had that thing come out world wide, I doubt we'd be using PCs, and an Apple IIGS. Which though quite prevalent in the US, they're rare as hell here. Sad thing is now that either machine is just stupid money, which is a shame as though I'd love to own them, there's no way I can justify the expense of them.

But honestly, he was right about a lot of stuff in there. Simply pretend to be another person to be your own booking promoter and people will take you more seriously. Get even a little bit of press and the press takes you more seriously. Most people don't actually care about what you do, they just care that other people care about what you do. I think his plan would have worked a decade ago.

The fact that he didn't have a plan for taking care of the band members and the openers makes him super shitty, though.

Interesting read for sure. What a soulless fraud though. To his core he is a dbag in every way possible. I would disagree he is famous though unless one defines fame as some people knowing who you are through the internet. That's fine if you do but I don't.

Part of me as I was reading was thinking, well if this would have actually been set up as a type of test to show what is wrong with people, the process, the music industry or whatever, Ok, maybe I justify it in some way. In order to do this though you would have to really set it up to where you could prove, when exposed, this is the case. In addition, you would have to really take care of the band mates in some way to make up for it. I'm not sure how that would be done given his limited financial means but those are things you would have to do make this experiment work. But I kept going back to the fact that he fucked over band mates and several other people along the way and I find zero justification for this.

At the end of the day he is a rotten human being to the core with no redeeming qualities that I can see.

Regarding the article. It is interesting but not surprising. Companies generate fake/paid press every day. Of course, all that gets you nowhere if people just don't like your music and don't go to your shows regardless of the hype. Where is the line between hype and reality? I hear music all the time that I think people only like because of its hype. Maybe that's true or maybe I just don't understand a lot of people's tastes? The fine art and wine worlds have been shown to often be hype-based markets and I don't think music is immune. Just narrowed down to the niche of metal bands I can think of some that were/are successful that I didn't understand what made people choose that band over others.

I played in bands and was around the industry enough to realize how much of it was based on hype and personal relationships. Some musicians aren't great musicians but they are good with people. Some musicians are creative but introverted. As in most industries, people skills often trump actual output.

I'm not supporting or making excuses for the guy. It's just that, given today's technology, it's not surprising that this was done. I'm sure it happens a lot more than we know.

“If a band approaches a venue and says: ‘Hey, we wanna play this venue,’ you’re going to get ignored,” he says. “All it has to do is look like it’s coming from a booking agency - doesn’t even matter what booking agency, even a fake one - and then you’ll get talked to and you can get things booked. Simple as that.”

I'll give the Threatin' dude this, he understands the modern music business better then most artists. Still too many think that their music will carry them through. It never does. Sometimes I wonder if it ever did. With nobody buying records or CD any more its become hard for venues to gage what kind of acts will draw in a crowd. Which is made worse by the trend that people no longer go out to see bands. The habits of the outgoing public have diversified so much these years that the days that a venue could book a band, any band, and will still get a sizeable crowd are long gone. So venues want to be more then double sure that any act they will book, will draw in a crowd. In that sense internet buzz has replaced record sales as a measuring gauge. And that has left them vulnerable to the likes of this guy, who seems to have grasped this new dynamic even better then they do. The moment this story broke I was in awe of this guy's balls and audacity in having gamed the system. It's happened before, the Dutch band Gotcha bluffed their way into the national band contest by using a similar fake press campaign, in the 90's. Which I reckon in those days was even harder. But they at least delivered live.

When rock 'n' roll first came about you just had to be able to play. You had a band, you could get a gig. Then came the time of the big artists that sold and played to millions, and everybody wanted a record deal. Such was the money to be made that artists allowed themselves by robbed by the recording industry, as even a tiny percentage of a shitload of sales was still a lot. Bands learned to promote themselves in addition to having to write good music. Then over time DJ's came to the scene and instead of having live bands clubs would let a dude play records instead, and the market shrunk. Even small bands with no record deals now had to learn how to market themselves. Next came new musical genres which actually challenged rock's dominent musical position. Then came online file sharing and record sales collapsed. Band promotion becomes even more important. And nowadays rock has declined to a niche market as rap, pop and latin music rule the Earth and record labels no longer even give a shit about rock bands any more. Bands need to be managers, bookers, home recording engineers, webdesigners, video artists, social media whores and god knows what else all in addition to being what they used to be, musicians. In that sense I can understand that actually coming up with good original music often takes a back seater, can anyone name any original music by the Jared Dines and Rob Chapmans of the youtube era? And this Threatin' guy just took that to the next level altogether.

True story: A friend and I, in our early 20's, went to Florida on holiday, out of season. To everybody's amusement, we didn't hire a car. Instead making our way around on public transport, though for a couple of things we had to book coach trips. I'm not sure why we did those things, but it did make it all more fun strangely. Anyhow we had a trip to Busch Gardens, the theme part owned by the makers of Budweiser. We did the rides, with no queues to speak of we polished off the park pretty quick so decided for the brewery tour at the end of which you could sample two beers in the concessions tent... We got talking to the pretty young thing behind the bar about how we couldn't possibly form an opinion on what Anhuser Busch had to offer on meerly two beers, turned the accent on strong (the one place it works...) and as the place was empty and we were keeping her company, we proceeded to sample every beer they had, and to a great quantity. I vaguely remember asking several coach drivers if we'd come with them and if they'd please take us back to our hotel... So their beers are effective at least.

What doesn't work is foreign beers being transported over there. We went to an Irish bar and quite frankly their idea of what Guinness or Murphy's is, is not what we get in the UK. But again that's a regional thing, because stuff brewed under license here is often bloody awful. Heineken brewed in the UK crap, but in the Netherlands it's really quite alright. Aussie beer is without exception just fizzy yellow water and I can't believe that Aussies would stand for that back home.

Personally I mostly drink Belgian beer. It's just bloody lovely. Though I suspect when brexit is in effect, bobbing over to restock is going to be a thing of the past :(

I often worry that visitors to the US will try Bud, Coors, or Miller Lite, thinking that these liquids are the ambassadors of American beer (afterall, they market themselves as such). These are all terrible products. To me, they are only tolerable on a very hot day, served very very cold with a better beer as a chaser.

In the US, Foster's is marketed as being "Australian for beer." I asked an Australian if they had better things to drink than that stuff, and heard a similar opinion to how I describe Budweiser.

Personally, I'm a fan of IPAs.

By the way, if you ever visit Legoland in Florida, you have to smuggle in your own beer. ;)

What doesn't work is foreign beers being transported over there. We went to an Irish bar and quite frankly their idea of what Guinness or Murphy's is, is not what we get in the UK. But again that's a regional thing, because stuff brewed under license here is often bloody awful. Heineken brewed in the UK crap, but in the Netherlands it's really quite alright. Aussie beer is without exception just fizzy yellow water and I can't believe that Aussies would stand for that back home.

Asahi Super Dry is a good example of that, here. The two litre cans (screwtops, with a plastic handle on the side) are very tasty beers, and, like the name says, dry beyond belief. Well worth getting.

The bottles and normal cans, on the other hand, are "Brewed Under Licence" by people who don't seem to understand how to brew Asahi Super Dry (rice is involved, as well as hops and barley), and it's not worth the bother.

the top of the heap beers from bud, miller/coors are pretty godawful (and they know it and make "microbrews") ... some of the legacy brands (grandpa's beer) are better, and generally not as liked by the public because they aren't as easy drinking (looking at you Pabst, Schlitz, Hamm's, Stroh's, etc) ... some of the regionals are even better like Yuengling (who took over the Busch Gardens brewery in Tampa) and Shiner ... then of course there's the litany of microbrews overdoing it with the hops, occasionally crafting something brilliant, and generally pricing themselves out of being an everyday brew. I tend to buy grandpa beers on the regular and sprinkle in the regionals and microbrews for special occasions.

What are some stupid prejudices -- that don't HURT anyone -- that you can't seem to shake?

For me, it's that I won't touch American beer. As in the USA.

I've heard too many horror stories about Bud, and Coors, and how beer from the USA is like love in a canoe -- f***ing close to water.

Intellectually, I have heard that there are a lot of microbrews that are very tasty indeed from the States. But I can't bring myself to try any beer from the land of love in a canoe.

Anyone else?

This is actually sad. Look at the top rated beers on Beer Advocate (http://"https://www.beeradvocate.com/lists/top/") for example. Of course most of those can be hard to get even for those of us in the US and it's better to drink the best bread you can get locally anyway. I think Belgium probably has the highest rating per capita for sure though ...

Things changed a couple decades ago now. In part it has to do with relaxed laws permitting brewing in more places, but also just the spread of knowledge and marketting reach thanks to the internet.

lol for kicks, this evening I managed to find Genesee cream ale in a 12 pack at the neighborhood liquor store ... I don't believe I've had the pleasure yet ... I seem to recall having Little King's cream ale once upon a time

I've given up on beer in a green bottle. Always skunky when I've tried it.

Also, here is a handy list of beers that are likely crappy and best avoided:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_InBev_brands :P

In US restaurants, InBev beers are often all that is available, but there is sometimes a footnote on the menu that says something like, "Ask your server about additional local or seasonal beer selections." Fun random story: My younger brother drove to Canada once and was asked at the border what his occupation was. He replied, "I'm a server." He was detained and his car was ripped apart in a multiple-hours-long search for drugs. Apparently, "server" means drug dealer up there. In the US, it is just a gender-neutral term for waiters and waitresses.

I've given up on beer in a green bottle. Always skunky when I've tried it.

Also, here is a handy list of beers that are likely crappy and best avoided:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_InBev_brands :P

In US restaurants, InBev beers are often all that is available, but there is sometimes a footnote on the menu that says something like, "Ask your server about additional local or seasonal beer selections." Fun random story: My younger brother drove to Canada once and was asked at the border what his occupation was. He replied, "I'm a server." He was detained and his car was ripped apart in a multiple-hours-long search for drugs. Apparently, "server" means drug dealer up there. In the US, it is just a gender-neutral term for waiters and waitresses.

Never heard that before, all kinds of server jobs advertised in regular media, it's used the same up here as in the states.

An online drug slang dictionary has server = crack dealer. https://www.noslang.com/drugs/dictionary/s/ & another compiled in the 90's has it, https://www.argot.com/

Ever felt that your street cred vocabulary was lacking a little? Haven't a clue what the man is going on about or what it is he's about to offer you? Well, worry no more thanks to the White House's very own super hip Street Guide...Get hip, doodz!!! (Some of it's totally ridiculous, but hopefully some of you might find it helpful).

Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade March 1997.White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse

The ability to understand current drug-related street terms is an invaluable tool for law enforcement, public health, and other criminaljustice professionals who work with the public. This document contains over 2,000 street terms that refer to specific drug types or drug activity.

Something about the drumming in Rob Zombie's track "House of 1000 Corpses" (NOT the movie, the track from Sinister Urge) is really groovy, to me.

Maybe it's the slightly janky timing, or how the hats rattle a bit longer than I'm used to, or how they're miked up, and rather crisp and prominent in the mix. Could be all of that. But it sounds really jazzy to me.

that's neat ... I grew up going to steam/vintage tractor shows (Terning's in Valley Center, KS) and of course classic car shows (Starbird's in Wichita) ... always fun to see equipment not from the U.S.

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

1. DO NOT WANT.2. Money no object!3. Reasonably possible dream car!

DO NOT WANT: Porsche 911.

For me, the 911 has always looked like the world's fattest man sat on the bonnet and, like a squished stressball, the car's arse ballooned like a full nappy. Plus it had a reputation for being squirrelly if you aren't good. As a package, the 911 is a massive turn-off to me.

Money no object: Lambo Miura.

It has all the drama and pantomime of the later Lambos, but without the goggle-eyed lunacy of the Countach or Diablo, and without the electrowizardry of the modern Lambos. Classically beautiful supercar with a V12. Plus, unlike, say, one of those replica Argentinian Bugatti Type 37s, you can park it out (somewhere nice, admittedly, not somewhere it will go walkies) and not worry quite so much that you'll come back to a crowd of anoraks (Miura is just as likely to attract pretty girls), or whether it will rain.

Reasonably possible: Mid-nineties Nissan Skyline

Growing up, the Big Dog sportscar in New Zealand was probably always the Skyline. Sure, there were the Holden and Ford V8's, but they were always more a Dad car. Plus, as everyone knew, Bathurst banned the Skyline because it kept winning all the damn time against the V8s. If you buy one, though, you NEED to get it checked out, thoroughly, because there is a pretty good chance that any given Skyline has had the bottom thrashed off it and gone through a few sets of tyres.

You do see the occasional Camaro or Mustang, but they're rare in NZ. Plus, if you do get one, you're going to get endless cracks about gallons to the mile, and the massive difficulty in getting Wellington Cathedral to go around a corner at speed.

Japanese imports have always been the major component of New Zealand's collective vehicle fleet, and Japanese sportscars have always been visible. The Mazda Miata was very popular in the Auckland crowd for awhile.

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

1. DO NOT WANT.2. Money no object!3. Reasonably possible dream car!

I'm in the very privileged position to have owned and driven many of the cars or types of cars that I've wanted to and I feel that makes my list a bit... weird. As a lot of the usual stuff I've kinda been there and done that, or I've done something else that's rendered it redundant (driving a sports prototype race car around Spa makes most road cars seem a bit dull, regardless of how many horses they have).

1. Do not want most current exotica. Anything with flappy paddles or batteries just do nothing for me at all. To be fair most things made after the 90's do nothing for me (with a couple of exceptions). They have all sorts of systems to stop you doing stupid things and modern tyres and brakes are really very effective. To get anywhere near their limits you need to be going so far over the speed limit, you're probably going to jail. Anything beneath their limit I just find dull. Going fast in a straight line is fun the first couple of times, but that's about it.

2. It's between two cars: The Eagle Speedster (https://www.carthrottle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/eagle-speedster.jpg), and a Mercedes SL 300 (http://www.gieldaklasykow.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mercedes-300sl-roadster-02.jpg) Roadster. Money no object I'd have both, simple as that :) the 50's and 60's were a golden era when it comes to actual car design, some of the prettiest creations known to man. Those two cars to me are the epitome of automotive elegance. I also have a thing for old Bentleys, I'd certainly want one of those in my collection also...

3. Reasonable money for me isn't a lot these days as I haven't worked for the last seven years. At this point in time I'd have a mint Mk1 MX-5 (http://80.229.1.38/~juansolo/motas/images/tate5.jpg) (that's actually my brother's car, I have a mk3 currently). Quite frankly in the real world, it's harder to have much more fun on the road and still have a practical and reliable car. When I was working, I'd have probably gone for a Jaguar F-Type S (https://cdn1.autoexpress.co.uk/sites/autoexpressuk/files/jaguar-ftype-s-1-front-tracking.jpg) convertible with a manual gearbox, or being the old man that I am now a 5.0 Jaguar XK (https://img.pistonheads.com/LargeSize/jaguar/xk/5-0-v8-artisan-special-edition-2dr-auto/jaguar-xk-5-0-v8-artisan-special-edition-2dr-auto-274262836-5.jpg) Coupe. Because in luxury cars, I have no problem with a big engine and an auto.

Reading that back makes me look like some sort of Jag nut... Which is odd considering I've never owned one! Came close to buying a Mk2 once though that looked not unlike this one (https://classiccars4sale.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_0218.jpg). I'd just bought a hot hatch (it was the 90's...) annoyingly and couldn't justify the amount of cash I'd lose on it in part exchange.

Cars are for me a means to an end, to get from A to B with the stuff that I want. As such sports cars hold no interest to me. Besides, what would be the point anyway? The roads are either full of speed bumps, or in various state of disrepair. Or both. So you can't drive fast on them anyway. And the places where you can tend to be lined with speed cameras.

Now if money were no object I wouldn't mind having a 60's Ford Mustang, or a classic Mini Cooper, although I reckon that compared to modern cars they drive terribly and have the road safety characteristics that was typical of those days, as in none at all. A classic WW2 Willys Jeep would also be nice to have, as a WW2 buff. The sound of that engine, that lovely sound.....

I agree on the 911I'd have to toss the coin between the aston martin db5 or the 1967 ferrari 275 gtb convertible while it is tempting to choose the challenger hellcat or whatever their highest horsepower current production model is, I'll go for the equally ridiculous vintage Vanishing Point hemi challenger r/t

I suspect I know why the "era of the movie star" is over. People have a lot more choice.

Back in the day when video on the internet was really not an option (when nearly everyone was on dialup), if you wanted to watch something, it was either VHS, TV, or go to the movies. Plus, of course, back then, a big TV was nowhere near as common, making the big movie theatre screen even more impressive.

These days, you can just watch any of a vast multitude of movies on your 50" TV with home theatre sound over Netflix.

Just saying that today I replaced the LEDs in a Crunchbox with a 12ax7. It was.... interesting.

I'd lowered the cap parallel to the gain pot to 51pf from 100pf, and it sounded like a very bassy fuzz. Might be interesting with a blend as a bass drive. After that I dropped the input cap from 22n to 4.7 and that was better but still not what I was thinking. Adding 750k resistor (?, might have been 500k) to ground from that cap cut out too much signal so I removed that resistor. It's a work in progress, but I went and built a Boneyard on vero which sounded awesome, using just a 500k gain pot to get rid of oscillation that happened with a 1meg, no high/low switching.

The valve is only running at 9v, and I wasn't expecting the next coming from my results. I was basically inspired by the Zendrive 2 and one of Juan Solo's build of the Wizard's Sleeve (Spark Gap, after researching I find it's not just a tubescreamer with valve clipping).

So now, it's to a bit more research to see what I can do to make it sound a bit better.

So there I was, trying out a guitar in a local shop. I'm after something of decent quality as the majority of my guitars are relatively cheap and I want a really nice one. The staff were helpful enough, letting me plug in and try it out and not getting too miffed at Rosie walking around (she's actually really well behaved, stays close, keeps her hands to herself and doesn't touch anything).

But the guitar is horribly set up. Old strings, an action 5mm off the fretboard, and while the intonation is fine at the 12th fret, basic open chords sound terrible as a result. Not great when I'm ready to spend the $800 on the tag. I showed the employee and he tried it out and agreed with me.

I told them I was interested in buying it and asked if it was possible to have it set up so I could try it properly - obviously I don't want to buy a guitar and find it's a lemon that can't be adjusted further.

I also said very explicitly that I would prefer to buy local than go online.

No worries, they tell me, and take my number so they can let me know when it's ready. The tech tells me he can't do it that day (I could see he was busy, he had 3 guitars in line to be done) and I reply that there's no hurry as I have to sell some stuff first. No probs, they'll call me when it's done.

Fast forward two weeks with no call and I go back in today. Same guitar still sitting there, same strings, same high action. Bit disappointing.

Ok, so I didn't put down a deposit, and I did say that there was no hurry, but wouldn't you think that with today's retail under pressure from online that they would at least set the thing up properly, contact me and make an $800 sale? I was tempted to offer far less based on work needed to bring it up to scratch, but I can get it online with all that work done and delivered for the same money....

So tomorrow I go around the other shops, see what's there, and I'll probably end up purchasing something online. Preferably from someone with an actual physical shop.

This is far from the first time that PETA have tried to get people to ban shearing sheep.

Their blatant, underhanded dishonesty pisses me right off.

Firstly, if you do not shear sheep, they suffer quite a bit from heat in summer, not to mention increase of flystrike and worse problems. The RSPCA get phone calls about animal cruelty to sheep each year -- from people worried that sheep NEED shearing, because who wants to wear the equivalent of a few wooly jumpers in 30 degrees celcius weather?

Secondly, all that "proof" that PETA puts up of how sheep are horribly abused during shearing? Boy, it sure is a shame that animal abuse like that is not illegal in any Western countr--heeeey, wait a minute! It *IS* illegal! Plus the farmer is going to be pissed at the shearing gang he hired -- rather than a healthy animal, plus unattached wool, he now has dirty wool with some hide attached, plus blood, and an animal that will need a fair bit of veterinary attention.

Thirdly, growing cotton needs a fair bit of water, which, famously, the world doesn't have as much of as it used to. Polyester and other synthetic fabrics are, we are told, part of the Plastics Problem. Wool is all natural, doesn't have the problems of the first two fabrics mentioned, plus, you eventually get mutton stew as well.

I always wonder what these dozey sods think will happen if farmers have no use for cows (milk is theft from calves!), sheep, or other animals. Do they think that the animals will wander around in some Disneyesque paradise?!

This is far from the first time that PETA have tried to get people to ban shearing sheep.

Before I even read the article I see it's origin. It's a tabloid that specialises in scare-mongering, xenophobia and sensationalism. Most things in there are usually very selective with the facts, deeply manipulative or just pure bollocks. I wouldn't believe a word printed in it.

Really nice history lesson on how normal, working class people achieved legal rights.

Something that the video has made me think about is male suffrage, not just female suffrage.

For a very, very long time, only *rich*, upperclass men were allowed to vote. Wouldn't do to have the lower classes getting ideas above their station, eh what?

Interestingly in New Zealand, Maori men had universal suffrage for more than a decade before European men, due to cultural attitudes to land ownership. (Traditionally, Maori owned land communally, while Europeans owned land individually.)

You should see the pile of failed, shitty PCBs I've thrown away over the years due to board-breaking design mistakes.

Well, I'll try to avoid throwing these cursed, @#$ing PCBs out ... maybe. Actually, I'll send these circuits to anyone in Canada, US or UK who will troubleshoot the populated, unworking PCBs, fix them and tell me where I went wrong:

You should see the pile of failed, shitty PCBs I've thrown away over the years due to board-breaking design mistakes.

Well, I'll try to avoid throwing these cursed, @#$ing PCBs out ... maybe. Actually, I'll send these circuits to anyone in Canada, US or UK who will troubleshoot the populated, unworking PCBs, fix them and tell me where I went wrong:

How did you go about adding tap tempo to the blueprint? I know the PCB has pads for tempo, but I thought that was never used in that project?

To quote the Patreon files on the Blueprint:"Blueprint - There are resistor icons on the circuit board marked JUMP and TAP. Use a jumper to connect the JUMP parts for a standard delay configuration. To connect the PT2399 delay chip to an existing tap tempo circuit (must be designed specifically for the PT2399), but a jumper in the TAP parts instead (leave the JUMP parts empty). You can then use the 6 pins at the top of the board to connect to the tap tempo circuit. From left (#1) to right (#6), the pins are momentary SPST switch for tap tempo (connect other side to ground), ground, +5V, CV from B50K pot, and the last 2 pins connect to the digital potentiometer to set the delay time."

How did you go about adding tap tempo to the blueprint? I know the PCB has pads for tempo, but I thought that was never used in that project?

To quote the Patreon files on the Blueprint:"Blueprint - There are resistor icons on the circuit board marked JUMP and TAP. Use a jumper to connect the JUMP parts for a standard delay configuration. To connect the PT2399 delay chip to an existing tap tempo circuit (must be designed specifically for the PT2399), but a jumper in the TAP parts instead (leave the JUMP parts empty). You can then use the 6 pins at the top of the board to connect to the tap tempo circuit. From left (#1) to right (#6), the pins are momentary SPST switch for tap tempo (connect other side to ground), ground, +5V, CV from B50K pot, and the last 2 pins connect to the digital potentiometer to set the delay time."

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

Been thinking about a custom car for a week or so, and think I might be onto something...

The basic appearance and chassis would be Mercedes 500K styled -- running boards, long bonnet with louvers, that sort of thing -- while the brakes, steering, that sort of thing would be all modern, to a degree. For the drivetrain, I'm picking a Japanese straight six, maybe Nissan or something. The idea here is easily available, lots of power, easily modifiable. If there is spare money, then supercharged -- I don't want a turbo, as it conjures up images of boyracers, here.

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

Been thinking about a custom car for a week or so, and think I might be onto something...

The basic appearance and chassis would be Mercedes 500K styled -- running boards, long bonnet with louvers, that sort of thing -- while the brakes, steering, that sort of thing would be all modern, to a degree. For the drivetrain, I'm picking a Japanese straight six, maybe Nissan or something. The idea here is easily available, lots of power, easily modifiable. If there is spare money, then supercharged -- I don't want a turbo, as it conjures up images of boyracers, here.

Have a look in the facebook buy/sell groups. I know of plenty of guys who've tried these sort of lofty projects, only to run out of steam and flick the on after a lot of the hard work has been done.

I don't know. Last time I went shopping for a bigger electronic appliance was a washing machine. Went in there, looked at the three options in my price range, asked one question to a sales person, decided and paid, had it in my car 5min later.

Might be down to cultural differences. I've had several americans tell me they felt neglected or even offended from the service by the staff they received in german shops or restaurants. Me, I'm just happy not being bothered unless I actually want something.

If I go into a store I don't even want to see a sales person until I actually need something. The last thing I want is for them to hover nearby like vultures waiting for their prey to die. Stay the hell away from me, if I need a vulture I'll let you know. Go play poker in the backroom, or chat with the nice lady behind the cashier or something. Oddly enough, there's a curious inverse ninja thing happening with sales persons, because when you actually need one there's usually no one to be found. I reckon the sure fire way to not be bothered by them is to appear to be wanting to speak to one. They'll scatter more quickly then rats or cockroaches in a room when you suddenly turn on the lights.

If I go into a store I don't even want to see a sales person until I actually need something. The last thing I want is for them to hover nearby like vultures waiting for their prey to die. Stay the hell away from me, if I need a vulture I'll let you know. Go play poker in the backroom, or chat with the nice lady behind the cashier or something. Oddly enough, there's a curious inverse ninja thing happening with sales persons, because when you actually need one there's usually no one to be found. I reckon the sure fire way to not be bothered by them is to appear to be wanting to speak to one. They'll scatter more quickly then rats or cockroaches in a room when you suddenly turn on the lights.

Similar goes for some waiters at restaurants. As soon as you arrive, they're circling like mosquitos. When it comes time to get the bill, or another drink.... they have tunnel vision, and look straight past you.

So, Update to plagiarism in the Bio class I teach. Turns out, I did have someone submit a copy for their last lab report.

But they did so in such a blindingly stupid way that they almost got away with it.

See, we use an online drop box for submissions, and it has automated similarity checking. Its not very "smart" but it spits out a similarity percent score, and typically anything less than ~25% or so is fine (as you end up "copying" common lab jargon and works cited and whatnot). Anything in the 30-40% range I tend to manually scan to see if anything is hinky (not uncommon when we used shared data sets and they just copy/paste them straight in), and higher than that we usually have people copying/sharing whole sections.

Well, I had one student who had an 18% similarity score on their paper. I didn't even bother opening it to scrutinize, just treated it as clean and moved on to grading things (he's near the bottom of the pile). Today I get a call from my lab director telling me to take a closer look. Turns out, he submitted another students paper, word. for. word.

As in, he didn't even bother putting his own fecking name on the thing.

But because he submitted it first, his was treated as the "original" and the student who ACTUALLY wrote the thing got flagged with a 100% similarity score. Now 100%'s are normal when both partners submit the same paper, but these two don't even have lab on the same day, let alone the same section.

I like to think that I'm awake enough that I would have noticed Luis had signed his work "Victoria" when I eventually got to his, but there is a chance I might have missed it, and if that had happened, he would've gotten a pass.

I'm honestly a little flabbergasted. Dude's never been a top student, and his normal partner had asked to work alone on this particular assignment (not uncommon), but I hadn't expected the guy to straight up pull a "dis is mine". Its... really really stupid.

Way late to the party on this one, but it reminds me of a group project I had in university. It was in Thermodynamics IIRC, and we had to work in groups of four. The Project was worth 50% of the final grade, and the final exam made up the other 50%. No interim marking, no interim tests or exams. And that year the exam went closed book, because the previous years class caught on to the fact that the professor was too lazy to change the types of questions in the exams, all he did was change the numbers within the questions, so they copied out the answer keys from the previous years exams and worked the methodology forward, substituting the new values as they saw fit. That class ended up scoring way too high on the curve and made the prof look bad, so he needed to correct that with my class.

Like most pack animals, we grouped up with people we knew, and we had one guy who just really couldn't be bothered to participate. He'd found a member of the opposite gender who was willing to tolerate him and let him run the bases from time to time, so he spent most of his time with her and none on the project.

At the end of the project, we peer scored the team, which would have a direct influence on their grade (i.e. if you scored someone with 100% participation, they would received 100% of whatever the final grade was directly, if you scored them 50% they'd get half the marks, etc). Given that we had three people who'd done the work and one who did not, we all scored the non performer at zero or something close to that.

An hour before the final exam the grades were posted for the group project, and my team scored 98%, so all we really had to do to pass the course was not spell our names wrong, which was a good thing because the final was brutal. I remember it well because we couldn't leave the exam room before the first half hour had expired, by the 28 minute mark I had barfed up all the knowledge I could, checked the spelling on my name and my student number, and handed the exam in right at the 30 minute mark (it was a three hour exam slot).

My underperforming team member saw me get up and he followed quickly there after. When he got out of the exam hall he said "Good thing we aced the project." To which my response was "Yeah, good thing"

As for the Netherlands differing from Germany in this regard, the Germans seem more traditional when it comes to money. Maybe its because of the hyper inflation thing they had after World War 1? They're only now thinking about getting rid of their 1 and 2 cents coins and rounding up or down on transactions. In the Netherlands we've been doing that for as long as I can remember. I can't remember ever having seen a 1 cent coin when we still had our own currency. We got them back when we switched to the Euro but they quickly disappeared again. If you still get one chances are you get one that was coined in Germany and that person did some shopping in Germany.

(Again, I should visit here more often)

Yeah, the whole paying in Germany thing can be a be of a PITA, especially for us auslanders (I've been in Germany for the better part of the last 13 months, working on a project that's a one hour flight from my home). I routinely carry cash for small transactions, but prefer to use my MC for meals, if for no other reason, than it guarantees I get a receipt, which is not always that common otherwise (my accountants have a real hate on for "non receipt" expenses, yet HR refuses to let me go on a per diem, even though that would make everyones life a lot easier). Problem is, most restaurants where I am won't take credit cards unless you run up a bill past 20 Euros, and I typically don't eat a single meal in the day that cost 20 Euro (meals here tend to be on the large and affordable side, and 20 Euros would be like a main, a litre of beer, and dessert, and I am having a hard enough time keeping my weight stable without adding all those calories), so then it's back to cash.

And the one, two, and 5 cent coins drive me nuts. You can't use them in vending machines, they are a hassle to carry, and given that I am typically here for 40 days at a time, by the time I leave there's a half pound of coins that the cleaning lady gets to keep.

Yeah, the whole paying in Germany thing can be a be of a PITA, especially for us auslanders (I've been in Germany for the better part of the last 13 months, working on a project that's a one hour flight from my home). I routinely carry cash for small transactions, but prefer to use my MC for meals, if for no other reason, than it guarantees I get a receipt, which is not always that common otherwise (my accountants have a real hate on for "non receipt" expenses, yet HR refuses to let me go on a per diem, even though that would make everyones life a lot easier). Problem is, most restaurants where I am won't take credit cards unless you run up a bill past 20 Euros, and I typically don't eat a single meal in the day that cost 20 Euro (meals here tend to be on the large and affordable side, and 20 Euros would be like a main, a litre of beer, and dessert, and I am having a hard enough time keeping my weight stable without adding all those calories), so then it's back to cash.

Yeah, nobody uses credit cards in daily life over here. I only use mine to pay for the odd stuff where I can't pay online via paypal, or to pay for my ZIN membership.

If you're still in Germany and near the Netherlands, I'm in Nijmegen. Feel free to visit.

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And the one, two, and 5 cent coins drive me nuts. You can't use them in vending machines, they are a hassle to carry, and given that I am typically here for 40 days at a time, by the time I leave there's a half pound of coins that the cleaning lady gets to keep.

I had a friend who collected those old coins. All Dutch 5 cent coins. He had like 20.000 when I helped him move. Those jars he kept them weighed like a ton of bricks each.

If you're still in Germany and near the Netherlands, I'm in Nijmegen. Feel free to visit.

Thanks, leaving Deutschland on Thursday this week, and I'm hoping not to have to come back again for extended periods of time, as I've been away from home 210 out of the last 300 days. That being said, I'm home for a whole five days this time, and then off to China for a week.

Yeah, the whole paying in Germany thing can be a be of a PITA, especially for us auslanders (I've been in Germany for the better part of the last 13 months, working on a project that's a one hour flight from my home). I routinely carry cash for small transactions, but prefer to use my MC for meals, if for no other reason, than it guarantees I get a receipt, which is not always that common otherwise (my accountants have a real hate on for "non receipt" expenses, yet HR refuses to let me go on a per diem, even though that would make everyones life a lot easier). Problem is, most restaurants where I am won't take credit cards unless you run up a bill past 20 Euros, and I typically don't eat a single meal in the day that cost 20 Euro (meals here tend to be on the large and affordable side, and 20 Euros would be like a main, a litre of beer, and dessert, and I am having a hard enough time keeping my weight stable without adding all those calories), so then it's back to cash.

I'm starting to develop opinions on mushrooms. The ones I can get at the shop, anyway.

They carry two types -- white button mushrooms, and big brown mushrooms. (They are the same species, apparently, the buttons are just harvested earlier.)

I find that the button mushrooms have next to no flavour when cooked, compared to brown. Anyone else?

Its not just a matter of timing, light is also a factor. The brown coloration is like a tan, it appears in response to blue/UV light. Its vitamin D, too, healthy for ya.

The species is Agaricus bisporus, if anyone is curious. Crimini, button, brown, protobello, all the same species.

Personally I prefer oyster mushrooms (Pleurotusspp.)for common use, but they do cost a touch more and aren't available everywhere.

More often than not it's one or more of the common 'button' family, raw for salads, cooked for other application, Shiitakes get used a lot for Asian dishes, readily available, relatively expensive, oysters i can get always with some hunting, like to pair shiitakes, enoki's and shimeji are kinda cool. Found chanterelle's acouple times and bought, can't say whether they were worth the money.

My mushroom man was gifted a box of mushrooms by one of his suppliers including some Morels which were quoted as around $120/lb. Have never tried a morel.

morel hunting was something I used to do back in Kansas ... one of those things you didn't talk too much about like fishing or hunting spots ... because suddenly you had friends you're now obliged to bring with you. now the internet tells you how to find anything including where/when/how to look for them

Something that always bugs me about movies, games, and artwork for cosmic horror (Cthulu, the Shining Trapezohedron, whatever) is that they are, I think, fundamentally incapable of portraying one of the fundamental elements of Lovecraft's cosmic horror.

The unknown.

There are several HPL stories featuring a narrator (unreliable or not), where the only thing the reader knows about the "bad thing" is what they are told, with key details missing in such a way that your imagination does most of the work in making your flesh crawl, not purple prose on the part of the writer. Another facet of this is that HPL, quite a few times, describes things as indescribable -- literally; the human mind is simply not equipped to deal with the reality of what some things truly are, and to behold them in all their terrible reality is to have something break in you. I'm probably explaining this badly.

But, in any case, this is all quite psychological. It all happens in your head. It doesn't transfer well, IMO, to visual art. Hey, this Elder God changes every time anyone sees it, and merely seeing it opens your soul to terrible things... but here's a picture on the wiki. The SCP wiki does a good artistic job of this -- there are strategic black inking marks, as well as deliberately missing pictures or descriptions, with notes on why they are omitted.

Something that always bugs me about movies, games, and artwork for cosmic horror (Cthulu, the Shining Trapezohedron, whatever) is that they are, I think, fundamentally incapable of portraying one of the fundamental elements of Lovecraft's cosmic horror.

The unknown.

There are several HPL stories featuring a narrator (unreliable or not), where the only thing the reader knows about the "bad thing" is what they are told, with key details missing in such a way that your imagination does most of the work in making your flesh crawl, not purple prose on the part of the writer. Another facet of this is that HPL, quite a few times, describes things as indescribable -- literally; the human mind is simply not equipped to deal with the reality of what some things truly are, and to behold them in all their terrible reality is to have something break in you. I'm probably explaining this badly.

But, in any case, this is all quite psychological. It all happens in your head. It doesn't transfer well, IMO, to visual art. Hey, this Elder God changes every time anyone sees it, and merely seeing it opens your soul to terrible things... but here's a picture on the wiki. The SCP wiki does a good artistic job of this -- there are strategic black inking marks, as well as deliberately missing pictures or descriptions, with notes on why they are omitted.

It may seem odd, but one of my favorite ever "Lovecraftian Horror" shows just came out.

Chernobyl.

The treatment of Radiation, particularly in the first episode, is almost textbook Lovecraft. It is this invisible, pervasive force that corrupts and decays and destroys. You may not know if you have been touched by it, but you know it is lurking there.

There is a scene where a character looks at something. That's all, just walks around a corner and looks, and you suddenly realize he is dead. He is still moving, still breathing, but that man from that moment onward is a corpse in all but technicalities. He realizes it too. And he knows it will not be a pleasant exit.

And half the people in the town are ignorant of even that much. They think its exciting, beautiful even. The glow on the horizon, lets take the family out to see it better.

Then again, the series is almost Kafka-esque at other points, where bureaucracy comes in and you want to beat these stupid men over the head for their idiocy.

But in all seriousness, watch the show, its only 5 episodes and my god was it good.

The unknown is the most terrifying thing that people can face. Doesn't matter if it's mundane -- shit, is my boss going to be fucked off at what I said to Miranda about the sales account? Doesn't matter if it's paranormal -- are vampires going to bite my face off? What people only have an inkling of is most terrifying.

You know, I've come across Lovecraft being mentioned in so many other stories, movies and shows, and yet I've never come across one of his actual novels. It's like being told the Beatles are such a massive big influence on song writing, recording and musical structure, again and again and again. And never ever hearing one of their songs.

You know, I've come across Lovecraft being mentioned in so many other stories, movies and shows, and yet I've never come across one of his actual novels. It's like being told the Beatles are such a massive big influence on song writing, recording and musical structure, again and again and again. And never ever hearing one of their songs.

He only ever wrote one novel, and its pretty thin at that. Most of what he wrote would be in the short story to novella range, 20-40 pages, with the longest clocking in around 140 pages. Mostly he was published in magazines and journals.

A bunch of it is public domain too: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Howard_Phillips_Lovecraft#Works

Fair warning, he's a bit of an.... "awkward" writer, so may take a tick to get used to his voice.

Fair warning, he's a bit of an.... "awkward" writer, so may take a tick to get used to his voice.

His dialog is horrendous, his prose is mostly sort of a dull purple, and he's often racist even by lax standards of his own time period, so "awkward" is kind of an understatement. I have a feeling that most of his influence is actually second or third hand at this point.

He only ever wrote one novel, and its pretty thin at that. Most of what he wrote would be in the short story to novella range, 20-40 pages, with the longest clocking in around 140 pages. Mostly he was published in magazines and journals.

A bunch of it is public domain too: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Howard_Phillips_Lovecraft#Works

Fair warning, he's a bit of an.... "awkward" writer, so may take a tick to get used to his voice.

That's usually a thing with all older writers and even old movies. The language and imagery they use is different then ours. Not to mention that people had so much more patience back then. They really took their time to get their stories going. And if you look at old newspapers its like seeing giant walls of text. Pictures of photos? Pff! Paragraph spacing and breaks? Pff! I love the imagery and style of old posters though. It's really superior to what we do today. Especially the ones that were drawn. Works of art!

His dialog is horrendous, his prose is mostly sort of a dull purple, and he's often racist even by lax standards of his own time period, so "awkward" is kind of an understatement. I have a feeling that most of his influence is actually second or third hand at this point.

Writing tastes change, over time.

Jules Verne is one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, by anyone's book, but at times 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is a very, very boring engineer's manual on what Verne thought a submarine (with magic power) should have in it's blueprint.

Bearing in mind I'm heavily entrenched in the world of fantasy fiction and always have been; Lord of the Rings is bloody awful to read. Tolkien was an intellectual who thought it'd be fun to create an alternate history and a fictional language to go along with that, and it reads like a book written by someone who'd really like doing that sort of thing. The ideas within spawned a genre, same with Lovecraft, which can rightfully elevate them to legendary status. But that doesn't stop them being subjectively not very good... ;)

Bearing in mind I'm heavily entrenched in the world of fantasy fiction and always have been; Lord of the Rings is bloody awful to read. Tolkien was an intellectual who thought it'd be fun to create an alternate history and a fictional language to go along with that, and it reads like a book written by someone who'd really like doing that sort of thing. The ideas within spawned a genre, same with Lovecraft, which can rightfully elevate them to legendary status. But that doesn't stop them being subjectively not very good... ;)

They are good! It's just that our culture has changed in that we no longer have the patience to sit down for a piece of fiction that takes its sweet time. In a time where we judge persons instantly by swiping either right or left how much patience do we have for a book that takes at least a 100 pages for the action to even start?

And let us not forget that in a time where we have literally been SWAMPED by their copy cats its easy to forget how refreshing and revolutionary there were in their time. Personally I can't stand the Beatles and I find Jimi Hendrix to be a rather meh guitar player (sans his live antics), as I've grown up long after them and experienced whole generations who took what they did and built upon them. And also did great things with them. But if I had lived at the times they lived in I would probably have been MIND BLOWN!

Bearing in mind I'm heavily entrenched in the world of fantasy fiction and always have been; Lord of the Rings is bloody awful to read.

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how much patience do we have for a book that takes at least a 100 pages for the action to even start?

They're bloody hard going, and that's coming from someone who read Battlefield Earth as a 13yo. I tried multiple times in the late 80s to try and get interested in it, but bugger me, Tolkien couldn't write action to save his life, and there's far too many songs about trees and grass. IIRC, I finally decided to do the hard slog and get through them in time for the movies.

I appreciate the effort he went through to create genealogies of people's horses but all that is meaningless if the rest of it is a sludge to get through... I don't think it's about a lack of patience, it's more that they're bloody boring for the most part.

I appreciate the effort he went through to create genealogies of people's horses but all that is meaningless if the rest of it is a sludge to get through... I don't think it's about a lack of patience, it's more that they're bloody boring for the most part.

I think that most of that is because Tolkien was an academic, an Oxford Don -- he broke one of the cardinal rules when he started writing The Hobbit, and Fellowship of the Ring. He literally just sat down, and started writing, with the very first line of the book. No outline, no summary, just start writing from the beginning, proceed through the middle, and stop when you reach the end. He had to start all over again several times, when he painted himself into a corner.

So, with a combination of that, plus an academic tendency to get side-tracked...

They're bloody hard going, and that's coming from someone who read Battlefield Earth as a 13yo. I tried multiple times in the late 80s to try and get interested in it, but bugger me, Tolkien couldn't write action to save his life, and there's far too many songs about trees and grass. IIRC, I finally decided to do the hard slog and get through them in time for the movies.

I appreciate the effort he went through to create genealogies of people's horses but all that is meaningless if the rest of it is a sludge to get through... I don't think it's about a lack of patience, it's more that they're bloody boring for the most part.

Everyone's experiences are obviously different. But this is how they wrote novels back then. They took their sweet time setting things up and getting going. And we do live in a time where people have zero patience for everything. If there is no instant gratification or sweet action coming we get bored and tune out. How many classic movies do they still air on TV? It's only recent blockbusters whenever I switch on the TV, barely anything black and white to be seen. Even in music the hook, the thing that grabs you and which used to be the chorus, now comes sooner and sooner. Nowadays it even seems that most songs start with the chorus.

And yes, Tolkien was no professional writer, but an university professor. Who wanted to write an epic myth in the classical styles of millennia ago. Which includes lots of songs. It just so happened that what he also created was the modern fantasy genre. I reckon that in this overstimulated day and age his work would not received as well but back then it was as groundbreaking as Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced. And if you think LOTR is slow and bad, you should try the Silmarillion, cause that is probably everything you dislike about LOTR on steroids. That is the work that Tolkien really wanted to create and from which he drew inspiration when he was asked to write a sequel to The Hobbit.

I think that most of that is because Tolkien was an academic, an Oxford Don -- he broke one of the cardinal rules when he started writing The Hobbit, and Fellowship of the Ring. He literally just sat down, and started writing, with the very first line of the book. No outline, no summary, just start writing from the beginning, proceed through the middle, and stop when you reach the end. He had to start all over again several times, when he painted himself into a corner.

So, with a combination of that, plus an academic tendency to get side-tracked...

Lots of people work that way. *cough* Jar Jar Abrams *cough* I don't think Tolkien did it that way. That is no way any academic works. If anything academics pay incredible attention to detail. Way too much attention then most. And the War of the Rings books that his son Christopher released showed us the early drafts for the books. In the end LOTR went through the same process as any novel, it got written, then rewritten, rearranged and rewritten endless amounts of times before it got released. Where Tolkien differs is in his style and pacing, which is more abstract, with more attention to detail and the worldbuilding then the characters themselves. If anything Middle Earth is a character in itself, and the best developed of them all. You really get a mind's eye feel for Middle Earth, way more then for any of the characters themselves. And the pacing differs because once the Hobbits finally get going it comes to a full stop again with Tom Bombadil, then picks up, only to split into two different narratives as the Fellowship breaks up. Most writers would adopt a leap over style where they would devote one chapter to Aragorn and Friends, then one to Frodo and Sam, and alternate all the way to the end. Yet Tolkien commits the cardinal sin of completely splitting up their adventures into separate books. The fact that he made it work is testament that the dude could write to keep his readers engaged. Although it remains to be seen if that remains to be case in our over stimulated times.

They're bloody hard going, and that's coming from someone who read Battlefield Earth as a 13yo.

I pity anyone who made their way through that turgid shite. I can't remember how old I was when I read it, but I remember being massively frustrated by the sheer stupidity of the main character. I'm supposed to be vying for this dude who is, by any metric, a complete idiot. Horrible, horrible book. Genuinely the first thing I ever read that I thought 'I could write a better and more compelling story than this...' and it not be me boasting. I think most people with a grasp of language and an imagination could.

This guy has superpowers. That guy has superpowers. She has superpowers. And this group of people have superpowers. They all get together and throw their superpowers at each other for 3 hours, but nothing actually happens because each superpower cancels the other out. Someone suddenly remembers an ability they have that they didn't just use right off the bat. The villan gets away again. The "good guys" cheat death again. Billions of dollars of property damage occurs.Boom. I just wrote script. Can I direct a blockbuster now?

This is a comment on corporatism more than anything else. We like to think that film studios make them out of the love of the medium and everyone just wants to make the best film ever. But that's simply not the case as it's all a business and all business cares about is making money. Which is why when something is popular it's thrown back at you over and over again until that particular format has been done to death. Same happens in the video games and music industry. Which is the thing they all strive for, find the thing with the most mass appeal, keep selling it until people grow tired of it then move on to the next big thing.

I can't understand most dislike of Tolkien's writing, even if I can accept that it's not everyone's cup of tea. I feel like some of them are just received wisdom. Tolkein is a damn good writer.

LOTR doesn't take 100 pages for the action to start. The action becomes progressively more sinister as the hobbits get further from their home, until they are literally trudging through hell on earth. The first chapter's like 30 pages in small paperback pages and it's the only mostly frivolous part of the book (even though some important things about the ring's effect on people are shown at that point), but necessary because it bookends the Scouring of the Shire, and shows what actually got damaged in the war.

The prose is often beautiful, despite its actual simplicity. The dialog is consistent with the tone of the rest of the book, which is more than can be said about most fantasy writers. The book is thematically consistent not just with itself but with another thousand pages of legendarium, and its level of detail rewards casual reading as well as the deepest possible probing. It's one of the most popular books on earth, and we can't all be wrong. It's also the subject of a great deal of serious literary criticism.

There aren't plot holes. There aren't characters just going around doing nonsensical things against their nature because a plot demands it. There are shades of gray (people often ignore them), even among the main characters, and even in a world with actual, literal embodiments of evil and good walking around.

Tolkien mentions the lineage of ONE horse. People still keep track of stuff like that, you know, and I'm not even talking about people whose military culture depends on horses ...

Also, lol at the idea of Tolkien not being a professional writer. The dude published quite a bit during his life and it was still only a fraction of the stuff Christopher dug up after his passing.

I was poking through some of Jay Leno's Garage episodes on youtube, and saw a "Husqvarna Motorcycles" video. ...*The* chainsaw company... have been making motorcycles since 1903??? That's like learning that the Bernina Sewing Machine outfit make big rig trucks!

Dunno about Bernina, but Singer used to make cars, a friend has one (1955 model I believe).

I can't understand most dislike of Tolkien's writing, even if I can accept that it's not everyone's cup of tea. I feel like some of them are just received wisdom. Tolkein is a damn good writer.

LOTR doesn't take 100 pages for the action to start. The action becomes progressively more sinister as the hobbits get further from their home, until they are literally trudging through hell on earth. The first chapter's like 30 pages in small paperback pages and it's the only mostly frivolous part of the book (even though some important things about the ring's effect on people are shown at that point), but necessary because it bookends the Scouring of the Shire, and shows what actually got damaged in the war.

The prose is often beautiful, despite its actual simplicity. The dialog is consistent with the tone of the rest of the book, which is more than can be said about most fantasy writers. The book is thematically consistent not just with itself but with another thousand pages of legendarium, and its level of detail rewards casual reading as well as the deepest possible probing. It's one of the most popular books on earth, and we can't all be wrong. It's also the subject of a great deal of serious literary criticism.

I agree with what you are saying, but playing devil's advocate here, saying that because something is popular it can't be wrong can mean that by that same yard stick the Kardashians should be high culture as well.

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There aren't plot holes.

I can think of at least one. If the Eagles could fly into Mordor to rescue Frodo and Sam, why not fly the whole Fellowship into Mordor from the start. This has always been a source of great debate. Where were the damn Eagles and why couldn't they be arsed until the very last second when Middle Earth was already plunged into total war?

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There aren't characters just going around doing nonsensical things against their nature because a plot demands it. There are shades of gray (people often ignore them), even among the main characters, and even in a world with actual, literal embodiments of evil and good walking around.

Tolkien mentions the lineage of ONE horse. People still keep track of stuff like that, you know, and I'm not even talking about people whose military culture depends on horses ...

Also, lol at the idea of Tolkien not being a professional writer. The dude published quite a bit during his life and it was still only a fraction of the stuff Christopher dug up after his passing.

I've once read that his son Christopher deserves to be right up there next to his father for his contribution to literature. Because indeed most of Middle Earth's history has been edited and published by the son, a labor of love for the father. And if anything we shouldn't be talking about Tolkien, but the Tolkiens.

I can think of at least one. If the Eagles could fly into Mordor to rescue Frodo and Sam, why not fly the whole Fellowship into Mordor from the start. This has always been a source of great debate. Where were the damn Eagles and why couldn't they be arsed until the very last second when Middle Earth was already plunged into total war?

It's not a plot hole, it's people misunderstanding or misapplying the lore of the world. Tolkien addresses the eagles in letters, though you can work it out with nothing more than what's in The Hobbit and LotR.

Destroying the ring is a stealth mission. The least powerful people carry out a plan that Sauron can't even imagine they would think of, because he can't imagine people throwing away power like that, and the weakness of hobbits makes them virtually invisible to him. This is discussed at the Council of Elrond.

Beings in middle earth have a body that exists in the corporeal realm and another that exists in the spiritual realm. The nazgul can't even manage to be visible in the corporeal realm but they are easily seen in the spritual realm, because they're really powerful (because Sauron put some of his considerable spiritual power into them). To creatures like Sauron that see the spiritual nature of things in Middle Earth, someone like Gandalf probably looks like a fireworks display. This is talked about when Frodo is stabbed with the Nazgul's knife and he starts becoming a wraith -- he can see their true forms.

Eagles are the same way. They're either maiar and air spirits (in the Silmarilion) or higher level animals (in later stuff), and they're servants of the king of the gods. They don't fly anywhere with any sort of stealth as far as Sauron and his most powerful servants are concerned. They can be shot down by bows just like any bird (they're worried about humans' bows in The Hobbit). They can be destroyed by the Nazgul's vulture thingies. They're not invincible by any stretch of the imagination. It's even possible that at the time of writing LotR, since Tolkien was considering them maiar at the time, that they would have taken the ring from Frodo and used it.

Basically you need a couple quiet commandos to complete the mission and everyone's who says the plan has a flaw is wondering why you don't roll up in a loud helicopter. Any plan in which you include someone more powerful than a hobbit is going to fail, because even a hobbit fails at the end, despite making it farther than anyone else could have. (It's actually destiny, to the point where there's literal deus ex machina at the end -- Eru pushes Gollum into the volcano.)

Absolutely loved LOTR when I first read it many years ago.My only 2 gripes are:1. Frodo was just plain annoying.2. No battle of Hobbiton in the last movie. That was a friggin ripoff. And the fact those 2 hobbits that got into the Entwine didn't come back a bit taller.

It's not a plot hole, it's people misunderstanding or misapplying the lore of the world. Tolkien addresses the eagles in letters, though you can work it out with nothing more than what's in The Hobbit and LotR.

Destroying the ring is a stealth mission. The least powerful people carry out a plan that Sauron can't even imagine they would think of, because he can't imagine people throwing away power like that, and the weakness of hobbits makes them virtually invisible to him. This is discussed at the Council of Elrond.

Beings in middle earth have a body that exists in the corporeal realm and another that exists in the spiritual realm. The nazgul can't even manage to be visible in the corporeal realm but they are easily seen in the spritual realm, because they're really powerful (because Sauron put some of his considerable spiritual power into them). To creatures like Sauron that see the spiritual nature of things in Middle Earth, someone like Gandalf probably looks like a fireworks display. This is talked about when Frodo is stabbed with the Nazgul's knife and he starts becoming a wraith -- he can see their true forms.

Eagles are the same way. They're either maiar and air spirits (in the Silmarilion) or higher level animals (in later stuff), and they're servants of the king of the gods. They don't fly anywhere with any sort of stealth as far as Sauron and his most powerful servants are concerned. They can be shot down by bows just like any bird (they're worried about humans' bows in The Hobbit). They can be destroyed by the Nazgul's vulture thingies. They're not invincible by any stretch of the imagination. It's even possible that at the time of writing LotR, since Tolkien was considering them maiar at the time, that they would have taken the ring from Frodo and used it.

Basically you need a couple quiet commandos to complete the mission and everyone's who says the plan has a flaw is wondering why you don't roll up in a loud helicopter. Any plan in which you include someone more powerful than a hobbit is going to fail, because even a hobbit fails at the end, despite making it farther than anyone else could have. (It's actually destiny, to the point where there's literal deus ex machina at the end -- Eru pushes Gollum into the volcano.)

Now you're just trying to reason away a plothole. Just like Star Wars tried to reason away why the Death Star had this stupid vulnerability with Rogue One. If Gandalf was this shining beacon to Sauron, why was he still included in the original plan to travel with the Fellowship into Mordor? If anything then he should have been going the complete other way to distract him. The Eagles are a plothole. Not that it bothers me in the least because in the end every story is about the journey and I enjoy this journey immensely, but I acknowledge that it is a plothole.

Absolutely loved LOTR when I first read it many years ago.My only 2 gripes are:1. Frodo was just plain annoying.

That's because Sam is the real hero of the story. ;D If LOTR was a sarcastic comedy then Frodo would be the Prince of Wales, a blithering idiot, and Sam be his sarcastic servant. And Gollum his disgusting stupid sidekick with a turnip fixation.

Seriously though. The ring corrupts whoever carries it. And the book and the movie does a great job showing us how it turns Frodo from a happy go lucky young Hobbit into a pale gaunt former shadow of its former self. Who becomes a dick and ultimately falls to its corrupting influence.

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2. No battle of Hobbiton in the last movie. That was a friggin ripoff. And the fact those 2 hobbits that got into the Entwine didn't come back a bit taller.

You can't do everything in a movie. Everybody was already bitching and moaning about the 'many endings' as it was already. I think in the books Tolkien got away with it, but from a story point telling it made no sense to have an additional story climax after the main ending. If anything it helped to show us the feeling of alienation that Frodo and his friends experienced when they returned home and found that nothing had happened there and they were seen as odd and crazy. To know that outside of the Shire people would bow to their sacrifices, whereas in the Shire they were seen as 'odd fellows'. I love that part. It also draws comparisons to the experiences of modern day military veterans who return back to civil society.

Tom Bombadil was another interesting character who never made the films

He really was a story stopper. Another crime against conventional story telling that Tolkien committed. Did it work in the books? Some loved Tom, I hated him, as to me it was a full on hitting the breaks on the main story. I can only surmise that in the movies it would have been even worse. Hey, here's a character on which the Ring has no influence and to whom they could have given it. Potential end of story right here. But lets not do it. Yeah, it would have confused the hell out of people not familiar with the books. Could they have shot Tom Bombadil for the extended version? I reckon they could. But it makes no sense to shoot scenes that you know will not end up in a theatrical release.

Tolkien mentions the lineage of ONE horse. People still keep track of stuff like that, you know, and I'm not even talking about people whose military culture depends on horses ..

I was actually being sarcastic with that comment, making a random reference to Micheal Douglas' character in The Wonder Boys, where is suffers from the opposite of writer's block and can't finish his book. One of the chapters is devoted to the horse's linage...

Just thought I'd let everyone know I've had a stack of builds work first go after missing 3 or 4 cuts on a Seventhheaven vero build.

This week, I've nailed: Jok3rX's Blackforest, an X-fuzz, (although, technically while it worked, I'd wired the pre-gain wrong), an Arachnid, a 1-knob fuzz (messed something up, it's really bassy), a jfet blend, a Peper's Dr Boogie with Tonemender, and a Storyboardist Exemplar (left out a cap on that one, so it worked but didn't make unity. Finding that missing cap sorted it). Mostly on vero.

So, maybe not quite "nailed", but certainly working first go in some aspect.

Can't remember if I linked these, here. Very, very well executed. The only part I have a problem with is believing that those planes could fly with no real maintenance for that long.

Cool Vids, AlanP.You sent me down a rabbit hole watching a few of them.Always love the post-apocalyptic themes, regardless of any technical flaws in the story... I usually pick up on it, but just shrug and roll with it.Happy that in the Mad Max universe, civilization died around the late 70's and the cars reflect that. I mean beggars can't be choosers but no one wants to be left modifying a champagne camry into a war machine.

I was impressed with Fury Road. I ducked down to the Opera House when they were promoting it the movie and a lot of the cars, the War Rig and Doof Wagon were there. The sheer size of the Doof Wagon was as impressive in real life as it was on screen.I was a massive fan of the originals, watched it all the time with my cousins.Also loved that every vehicle was fully functional as was told - if they said it was a twin turboed V16, it truly was.Epic movie.

I just want to mention that I went to see X-Men: Dark Phoenix today and I thought it was EXCELLENT for the most part, as far as I'm concerned. It gets shit reviews but I only got a little bit distracted in the middle of the train scene at the end. I see some possible improvements (like the aliens being actually quite redundant) but it felt REAL and convincing to me. Something most MCU movies, especially the Avengers ones, fail me on. It think, together with Logan and Days of Future Past it makes my top 3 of X-men movies. Sadly, most X movies aren't that much to write home about. This one was, I believe, well executed at least.

On a related note, I'm always a little amazed at the insanely high ratings, by critics and audience, the Avengers movies receive. Other example: Pacific Rim. I'm going to rewatch that to see what I think about it now...I just remember it did NOT live up to the rave reviews as far as I'm concerned.

Related note #2, tying in to the LOTR 'plot hole' discussion: the way Midwayfair explained that one actually makes sense in that universe. All powerful beings in other films, like a Captain Marvel in Avengers, are much less satisfying. My girlfriend said that Jean in Dark Phoenix is a little like Captain Marvel in that regard, which sold the story short for her...and I can see that in hind sight, but it didn't bug me in the theater (Captain Marvel DID though).

I just want to mention that I went to see X-Men: Dark Phoenix today and I thought it was EXCELLENT for the most part, as far as I'm concerned. It gets shit reviews but I only got a little bit distracted in the middle of the train scene at the end. I see some possible improvements (like the aliens being actually quite redundant) but it felt REAL and convincing to me. Something most MCU movies, especially the Avengers ones, fail me on. It think, together with Logan and Days of Future Past it makes my top 3 of X-men movies. Sadly, most X movies aren't that much to write home about. This one was, I believe, well executed at least.

On a related note, I'm always a little amazed at the insanely high ratings, by critics and audience, the Avengers movies receive. Other example: Pacific Rim. I'm going to rewatch that to see what I think about it now...I just remember it did NOT live up to the rave reviews as far as I'm concerned.

Related note #2, tying in to the LOTR 'plot hole' discussion: the way Midwayfair explained that one actually makes sense in that universe. All powerful beings in other films, like a Captain Marvel in Avengers, are much less satisfying. My girlfriend said that Jean in Dark Phoenix is a little like Captain Marvel in that regard, which sold the story short for her...and I can see that in hind sight, but it didn't bug me in the theater (Captain Marvel DID though).

I didn't mind the Pacific Rim movie for what it was. Take your brain out, plonk it on the lounge beside you and grab some popcorn.Wish they'd get an Aussie to play an Aussie though. Nothing more annoying than a fake accent, hey?I've still gotta prepare myself for the last 2 Transformers movies.... I'll have to have candy crush reloaded on my phone though for the boring endless battles.

Cinefix's Top 5 Original Movies gave #1 to an avante garde film, _Dog Star Man_, and I can't help but suspect that "avante garde" is French for "We know that normal people would never ever want to see this."

Warren Beatty and Mel Gibson have won more Oscars for best director than Stanley Kubrick.

Of course they lived and worked in Hollywood, so it was easy for them to be part of the Hollywood incrowd that decides who gets the Oscars. Kubrick on the other hand lived and worked in the UK, was a social recluse and I'm not sure he ever left the UK. Even Full Metal Jacket, a friggin' Vietnam war movie, was shot entirely in the UK. When you're not part of the incrowd you're less likely to get the awards of the incrowd.

Wow, I just read that Alfred Hitchcock, one of the most legendary directors of all time, never won Best Director in the Academy Awards.

I can spin this better, I think.

As a testament to his skill and resourcefulness, despite the fact that EBK has made fewer films and has worked with much smaller budgets, he has managed to keep pace with legendary Hollywood directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, in Academy Award wins. 8) ;D

and while we're out in the weeds, the Grammy snubs are arguably more brutal and hard to take.Milli Vanilli has more Grammys than The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Chuck Berry. On a positive note, no matter how many bad notes I play I have exactly as many Grammy wins as The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, and Iggy Pop combined.

My laundry dryer broke, most likely just the heating element. After calling around, my wife and I have realized that nobody will repair it for us because it doesn't make economic sense for appliance people to carry out this type of repair. Quite sad and frustrating. Thankfully (I guess), the Internet has shown me what I would need to do to repair it myself, assuming I can find the replacement part(s).

(The summer weather is way too humid here to hang clothes up to dry outside, in case you were thinking of that solution to my problem. I will be hanging up clothes to dry inside my house until I fix this though.)

My now almost 30 year old Maytag washing machine broke a couple years ago. With google help figured out what was up with it, was able to find the solenoid valve at a shop near me, the washer deisign was one that had been little changed in years. The original part was made in Italy didn't check the new one. The guy at the counter in the parts store and the service man were, 'don't ever get rid of that machine'. Started a stopwatch to see how long i'd need to put it back together, including a couple pictures under 7 minutes and ready to test. Was so simple, easy access, room to work, no computers, a different time.

Maytag gas dryer bought the same day only used in winter for sheets and bath towels, so far a new pilot and the plastic drum fan was replaced.dave

My laptop broke last week. Repair was to just replace the whole insides of the laptop because they don't really bother diagnosing it any more. Lost 2 weeks of data since the last backup, because even the 'hard drive' is not recoverable in these new ones, the drive is some flash memory soldered directly to the logic board. Logic board won't power up? No way to access the hard drive.

Update:Dryer has been fully disassembled. Thermofuse blown. Thermostat and heating element seem ok. Vacuumed out all the dirt and lint. *shrug* New fuse arrives tomorrow.(https://i.imgur.com/0ClqpwMl.jpg)

I spent years having to be my own appliance repairman because of perpetual paycheck to paycheck living. the hardest thing about dryer repair is getting that sheet metal shell back in place squarely ... then again I didn't have to work on the more modern dryers that are computer controlled, lcd display, sings songs, etc. those are bound to be a pain.

The computers and displays and beeping stuff wasn't hard. It's all in one lightweight panel with a single electrical connector. The hardest part was actually blindly reaching in and trying to figure out how to route the belt that spins the drum.

The thing that I found odd was that there was no error code displayed to say that there was a continuity break in the heater circuit. It has codes for every other possible problem, it seems.

One of my oldest friends owns/runs a bar across the street from the bar where the Dayton shootings happened. Crazy ness, still not sure he’s okay. No info on the victims yet.

Not cool. They stopped the guy in less than a minute but he still had time to kill nine people and injure at least a dozen more. Less than a freakin minute, and probably with a gun that you can just go buy at a shop.

Some people genuinely, no kidding, actually ENJOY arguing. They will start an argument over whether the sky is blue or pink polka dots, for the sheer joy of it. One lady at work used to start arguments with another particular person, every day, just to pass the time while doing manual labour.

Personally, I find arguments draining and annoying, just another hoop to jump through like a trained dog before something will happen.

I can admit that I will troll about something I completely disagree with (usually political) and eventually get bored because there's no possibility of acceptance of new information for them ... but I have to be really really bored to even get started.

My wife was shopping for medicine for our 7 y.o. daughter who is sick. She buys chewable Tylenol, which is great.

While in the store, she spots what she thinks would be a good solution to getting our 4 y.o. son to take medicine when he gets sick. He has a habit of refusing medicine, regardless of what sugary flavor it has. So, she buys this, which made me laugh out loud:(https://i.imgur.com/Z52GHVsl.jpg) Why the package has more than one dose, I have no idea. The rest are for deterrence, maybe. But, yes, that is an ear-to-ear smile on the cartoon child on the box.

(Yes, I can certainly imagine circumstances where kids could be physically incapable of taking medicine orally, in which case this product would be very valuable. I'm absolutely not suggesting those scenarios would be worthy of laughter.)

Ah, the joys of having to take medicine as a kid. I remember fleeing into a toilet stall in a French rest stop to avoid having to swallow the road sickness pill I had to take. Nasty taste if memory serves me right. Kids have it easy today, in the 70's they didn't do pills for kids with sugary tastes. Well, at least where I lived.

The thought struck me today that the fashion world are just throwing clothes at the wall, and seeing what sticks.

Can't think of any other reason (beyond the "avante garde" copout) for some of the fashion monstrosities one sees.

Well, you try and predict what will become popular? If you could I bet you wouldn't have time to post on the internet about, you'd be too busy cashing in. Which is perfectly fine I might add. I'd do it too.

That being said I do think some things can be predicted up to a point, just by the simple axiom of that which goes up, must come down again. If tight fitting clothes are all the rage at some point there will come a counter reaction and people will move on to baggy clothes. At some point bright garish clothes will fall out of grace again in favor of more subdued classy clothes. The trick is in being able to predict where you are in the trend. And that is why they pay trendwatchers who overall have a record of being more right then wrong the big $€$€$. And by right and wrong I mean like 60/40 or 55/45. And not everything they will try for next fashion season will work out. Just like in movies some films will suck (these days more then others), in movies some albums will flop from even the best of artists, or how on the stock market some stocks will fail as others will win. You try a lot of things and hope that what will stick will cover for the losses you'll make on the stuff that doesn't stick. And still make you a profit.

As for the catwalk stuff, that's a bizarro fest and separate universe all onto itself. 99% of it doesn't even translate into what you will see in retail.

My son and his friends at school have taken to tying their hair up in a pony tail on the very top of their heads, so it stays out of their eyes while playing soccer. He was walking round our house like that when we had the families over for a party. A few days later my sister sends a photo of her son wearing his hair the same way.I mean, it looks ridiculous, but that's kids these days.

My son and his friends at school have taken to tying their hair up in a pony tail on the very top of their heads, so it stays out of their eyes while playing soccer. He was walking round our house like that when we had the families over for a party. A few days later my sister sends a photo of her son wearing his hair the same way.I mean, it looks ridiculous, but that's kids these days.

Good thing other generations didn't do things, wear things that were deemed ridiculous by their parents. dave

My son and his friends at school have taken to tying their hair up in a pony tail on the very top of their heads, so it stays out of their eyes while playing soccer. He was walking round our house like that when we had the families over for a party. A few days later my sister sends a photo of her son wearing his hair the same way.I mean, it looks ridiculous, but that's kids these days.

Good thing other generations didn't do things, wear things that were deemed ridiculous by their parents. dave

The entire Internet has turned into a collection of blurry shapes and crying kittens.Thanks Photobucket!

Use the blurry shapes and crying kittens as pedal graphics. It would make a wonderful statement. A while back, I was going to use this image on a pedal, but as I am terrible at finishing things, it never came to be:(https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2017/07/546259-photobucket-3rd-party-hosting-broken-image.jpg)Bonus points for leaving an empty hole in the enclosure where the stomp switch would normally go.